I'm not part of the Hollywood scene. I don't run around with 30 women. I have a very calm household. I'm surrounded by my grandkids and wonderful friends, and I consider myself very lucky.

I can't hang out as loose as I used to, but I can still go down Jefferson Avenue and look in the faces of winos, pimps and junkies, all the things I'm made of.

Funkers are people who dig the funk; Little funkers, Big funkers, Old funkers, Young funkers, Foxy funkers, Mother funkers, Papa funkers.

Whether you're rich or poor, life's still cold-blooded.

She's the kind you don't take home to mother.

My teacher said I would either be a hoodlum, or a great entertainer.

I just live one day at a time.

If anything I consider myself non-violent. I'm from the hippy era, peace, love, groovy.

I'm still James Johnson. Rick James is a stage name. James Johnson keeps Rick James on the ground... Kind of sort of.

You and I, we'll be together 'til the six is nine.

Off stage it's cool-out time. You can't funk and roll ALL the time.

Behind every angry soul is a wounded child that just wanted you to love them for who they are.

Folk can’t learn their lessons if they skip school.

Mathematics is Open Source.

Honestly, I find the analysis of dreams is one of the dullest things. I say this as a therapist kid. I find them deeply uninteresting, as a window to the soul.

My brothers and sisters hated me because I was an only child.

I often think of random melodies. And I pretty much hear in my head what I want to do with the orchestra as I'm writing on the piano.

The bigger the risks, the better off you are. Otherwise you're just boring.

When you see a woman who can go nowhere without a staff of admirers, it is not so much because they think she is beautiful, it is because she has told them they are handsome.

Most happy is he who is entirely self-reliant, and who centers all his requirements in himself alone.

Better a tooth out than always aching.