I'm just singing what I feel in my heart.

If I wasn't my age, I would turn a flip. I would do some cartwheels. That's how I feel.

I'm singing these songs to inspire you, to keep you going, to lift you up and give you a reason to get up in the morning

There's still injustice happening in my world. I sing my songs at concerts and I'm so grateful that the people are ready to hear them.

I won't wear rings and jewelry on the stage because I don't want you looking at my hands. I want you hearing what I'm saying.

I have to pinch myself sometimes. It's unbelievable, but it's not. Because I know that this would not be happening if it hadn't been for Dr. Martin Luther King.

Well Lord, I'm still on the case. I'm still doing what Dr. King and Pops want me to do. I'm still on that freedom highway, and I'm going to walk on it until Dr. King's dream is realized.

I never sang for a Grammy, for money, for fame. That's my whole purpose for singing: for people, for the fans.

We stay strong. We stay positive, keep our heads up, love one another, spread love. The Devil can't win when you have God on your side.

There is a great feeling in a small venue, with the closeness of the people and the intimacy.

Music is such a joy, just an absolute joy.

Appreciation is the best currency to encourage someone do something for humanity.

Sometimes people get taken away from you whether you want it or not. And sometimes that hurts so much, it might be easier to forget.

You can be all that you wish to be. Go for the challenge.

The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one another.

The only thing a master can teach is how to learn about yourself. There are no secrets. They are only techniques to waken yourself.

Are you hero enough to unite yourself to one whom you know to be suspected and despised by all around you, and identify your interests and your honor with hers?

A man must keep his earnestness nimble, to escape ridicule.

The greatest gift on this planet is to love and be loved.

Speech is but broken light upon the depth Of the unspoken.

All special assistants to the president are typically political appointees of the first year of the new president.