Best 64 quotes of Ray Charles on MyQuotes

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and tears are only rain to make love grow.

Affluence separates people. Poverty knits 'em together. You got some sugar and I don't; I borrow some of yours. Next month you might not have any flour; well, I'll give you some of mine.

All my life I've always been so blue, born to lose, and now I'm losing you.

Before I begin, let me say right here and now that I'm a country boy. And, man, I mean the real backwoods! That's at the start of the start of the thing, and that's at the heart of the thing.

Crying's always been a way for me to get things out which are buried deep, deep down. When I sing, I often cry. Crying is feeling, and feeling is being human.

Do it right or don't do it at all. That comes from my mom. If there's something I want to do, I'm one of those people that won't be satisfied until I get it done. If I'm trying to sing something and I can't get it, I'm going to keep at it until I get where I want it.

Drunken talk isn’t meant to be printed in the paper.

Even though I'm not Jewish...Israel is one of the few causes I feel good about supporting.

Goodbye don't mean gone.

I cant retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. Youd have to remove the music from me surgically—like you were taking out my appendix.

I'd like to think that when I sing a song, I can let you know all about the heartbreak, struggle, lies and kicks in the ass I've gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.

I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been able to hear.

I don't sing a song unless I feel it. The song don't tug at my heart, I pass on it. I have to believe in what I'm doing.

I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay, a big stack of bills that gets bigger each day.

I had to pawn my clothes just to pay my rent.

I heard someone say that all black people got rhythm. Bullshit.

I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind.

I know it sounds strange - a blind teenager buzzin' round on a motorcycle - but I liked that; that was me. I had always been nervy, and I always had a lot of faith in my ability not to break my neck.

I'm a firm believer in God himself, but that's as far as I can go. I'm not any denomination. I'm not Catholic or Presbyterian or Baptist or Methodist or Jewish or Muslim. I'm none of those things. And I'm sure that's just fine with God.

I'm not a jazz singer, blues singer or country singer. I'm a singer that can sing rhythm & blues, that can sing jazz, that can sing country. There's a big difference. In other words, I'm not a specialist.

I'm not into the money thing. You can only sleep in one bed at a time. You can only eat one meal at a time, or be in one car at a time. So I don't have to have millions of dollars to be happy. All I need are clothes on my back, a decent meal, and a little loving when I feel like it. That's the bottom line.

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

I never considered myself part of rock 'n' roll. My stuff was more adult. It was more difficult for teenagers to relate to; my stuff was filled with more despair than anything you'd associate with rock 'n' roll. Since I couldn't see people dancing, I didn't write jitterbugs or twists. I wrote rhythms that moved me. My style requires pure heart singing.

I never said I was a genius. I never said I was a cornerstone. I've never said I'm a legend in my own time. You never heard me say nothing like that.

I really feel that if you're gonna be good, you gotta practice... Practice whatever the hell you do.

I set my own rhythm, and I do believe it was usually a little faster than most other people's.

I think that most great artists who are extremely known, as I am, would intimidate a lot of people. I don't want to do that to people, but I know I do.

It's like Duke Ellington said, there are only two kinds of music - good and bad. And you can tell when something is good.

I used to sing like Nat King Cole. I mean he was the guy when I was comin' up, and you know, man, people used to say of me, "Damn, he sure do sound like Nat King Cole." But there was a day, and luckily for me it was early, when I woke up and asked myself, "Well, when are the ask me to sing because I sound like me?" So my advice is, never do anything that you don't like.

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 necessity for me-like food or water.

I was born with music inside me

I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of

Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice.

Live each day like it's your last, 'cause one day you gonna be right

Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.

Many times during auditions, I was told that I couldn't carry a note with a bucket, and that I sure couldn't play the piano.

Music is about the only thing left that people don't fight over.

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

Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically.

Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate

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 frosting on the cake, but music's the main meal.

My mom taught me a lot. A lot about minding your own business and leaving other people's business alone. And let them think what they want.

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

My version of 'Georgia' became the state song of Georgia. That was a big thing for me, man. It really touched me. Here is a state that used to lynch people like me suddenly declaring my version of a song as its state song. That is touching.

Nowadays they say you need a special chip to put in the TV so kids can't watch this and that. In my day, we didn't need a chip. My mom was the chip. End of story.

Now Listen You know I work so hard, all day long Everything I try to do, Seem to always turn out wrong That's why I wanna stop by on my way home and say Let's go get stoned

[On his heroin addiction:] 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.

Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you.

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

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