I was going to get drafted, but I didn't really want to go into the Army.

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.

When we're together, I'm a leaf floating on a pond. Weightlessly in love.

Imitation is not inspiration, and inspiration only can give birth to a work of art. The least of man's original emanation is better than the best of borrowed thought.

The slogans “hang on” and “press on” have solved and will continue to solve the problems of humanity.

You don't have to know someone your whole life to know them. Not really. Lonely is the same everywhere.

I believe in a zone of privacy.

I miss video games where the jump-kick was the trickiest combo to master.

Sayings remain meaningless until they are embodied in habits.

shall I, for fear of feeble man who shall die, hold my peace? Shall I for fear of scoffs and frowns, refrain my tongue? Ah, no!

Marriage is for noblewomen with nothing else to do.