One night I was layin' down, I heard Papa talkin' to Mama, I heard Papa say to let that boy boogie-woogie.'Cause it's in him and it's got to come out.

The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning.

I don't play a lot of fancy guitar. I don't want to play it. The kind of guitar I want to play is mean, mean licks.

When I die, they'll bury the blues with me. But the blues will never die.

I don't do nothin’ I don't want to do.

I don't think about time. You're here when you're here. I think about today, staying in tune.

The one thing the blues don't get is the backing and pushing of TV and radio like a lot of this garbage you hears. They choke stuff down people's throat so they got no choice but to listen to it.

No matter what you got, the blues is there

It's never hard to sing the blues. Everyone in the world has the blues . . .

I remember back in Detroit, I used to go to the Apex Bar every night after I got off work. The bartender there used to call me Boom Boom. I don't know why, but he did.

I hitchhiked, took trucks 'n' trains - anything that would pick me up. I stopped in Memphis for about six months and they found me and come got me. Stayed about a month an' split again.

There’s plenty of emphasis on success in our culture, but we have to help people focus on significance as well.

sometime hate is just confused love!

Discretion in speech is more than eloquence.

The U.S. news media have a critical role to play in educating the public about climate change.

Surprisingly, I'm not a fan of guns or anything like that!

We are the environment.

Robust faith in oneself and brave trust of the opponent, so called or real, is the best safeguard.

If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that's pretty good.

You own your own words, unless they contain information. In which case they belong to no one.

I do not like [in the new Federal Constitution] the omission of a Bill of Rights providing clearly and without the aid of sophisms for... protection against standing armies