“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.”

“I was ashamed of myself for being ashamed of myself. I didn't like feeling like that.”

“I felt like a failure, like somehow my self-worth was tied to my ability to procreate. I didn't feel like I could talk about it. I did not want other people's pity, so I mostly kept my story and my...”

“My failures may be my greatest successes. It is in failure that I have often drawn closer to God, learn to depend more on Him than myself, gained self-knowledge, and seen things in their right pers...”

“This is how the girl who couldn't speak and the man who couldn't see fell in love.”

“The world has been blind in the presence of artificial lights.They blame about the darkness in broad daylight.”

“WHO AM I?I have seven heavenly panelsLeading up to a pointed sphereIm multidimensional like a crystalAnd my center is never clear.Im an inventor and pioneer.A mentor to my peers.But I'm not as soun...”

“Ex-slaves, in large part, shared a different economic vision. They were "always on the move," searching for family, denying their labor to "dishonest or oppressive employers," and asserting their i...”

“White folks have controlled New Orleans with money and guns, black folks have controlled it with magic and music, and although there has been a steady undercurrent of mutual admiration, an intermin...”

“But lets not forget the Jew. Anybody that gives even a just criticism of the Jew is instantly labeled anti-Semite. The Jew cries louder than anybody else if anybody criticizes him. You can tell the...”