I was denied a record contract for 15 years, so I'm not going to be too picky about what I do. I don't have the juice to say no too many times.

They say the blues is sad, but when B.B. sings 'I got a sweet little angel, I love the way she spreads her wings,' that don't sound too sad to me!

When I went to Chicago, I'll put it like this: I was looking for a dime and I found a quarter.

If you don’t think you have the blues, just keep living.

Don't be the best in town. Just try to be the best until the best come around.

It's kind of hard to keep going sometimes but you just have to believe in what you are and what you can do and that's the way to success.

Your mind is on vacation and your mouth is working overtime.

I've never missed a gig yet. Music makes people happy, and that's why I go on doing it - I like to see everybody smile.

I learn everything I play by listening to somebody else.

I'm gonna play something so funky you can smell it

If you don't think you've got the blues, just keep living, and if you don't think you're drunk, just keep drinking what you're drinking.

You need contradictions to make an ideal.

Know what you want. Pursue what you need. Realize what you ought. Attain what you desire.

What are we, in this boundless and glowing world?

The heaviest thing is an empty heart.

Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment.

Knowing what is right does not make a sagacious man.

'True Blood' excites me. It scares me, but it excites me.

The state or global forms of power that seek to protect populations considered in danger may well extend their own power through those acts of protection.

A more normal, mature way to think about it [my work] would be, Oh, I work on multiple projects at once and they overlap, but the actual psychology of it is a lot more self-abusing.

Your priority has to be the creativity - and build a brand. That's what everybody did - Balenciaga, Dior, Saint Laurent. That's the smart thing to do.