Quotes by Ray Charles

“Learning to read music in Braille & play by ear helped me develop a [very] good memory.”

“Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy. ”

“I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great.”

“I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a neces...”

“My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.”

“Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.”

“Music's been around a long time, and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the f...”

“What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.”

“Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.”

“I suppose I've always done my share of crying, especially when there's no other way to contain my feelings. I know that men ain't supposed to cry, but I think that's wrong. Crying's always been a w...”

“I did it to myself. It wasn't society... it wasn't a pusher, it wasn't being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing.”

“Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy.”

“You gotta know how to get to people's heart”

“I got a woman way over town, That's good to me, Oh yeah!”

“Hey mama, don't you treat me wrong,Come and love your daddy all night long.All right now, hey hey, all right.See the girl with the diamond ring;She knows how to shake that thing.All right now now n...”

“Yeah yeah, what'd I say, all right Well, tell me what'd I say, yeah Tell me what'd I say right now Tell me what'd I say”

“Soul is when you take a song and make it a part of you — a part that's so true, so real, people think it must have happened to you. … It's like electricity — we don't really know what it is, do we?...”

“Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. … This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it.”

“Music has been around a long time, and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the...”

“The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.”