"Don't go backwards - you've already been there."
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Quote collection
Ray Charles quotes (page 1 of 5)
82 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"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."
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"Music to me is like breathing. I don't get tired of breathing, I don't get tired of music."
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"Just because you can't see anything , doesn't mean you should shut your eyes."
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"What is a soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room."
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"Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap."
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"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."
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"Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory."
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"There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we're here to explore new possibilities."
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"There's nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, 'If you believe in Me, you ain't going to have no troubles.'"
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"Live each day like it's your last, 'cause one day you gonna be right"
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"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."
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"Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy."
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"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."
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"Music is about the only thing left that people don't fight over."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"Absence makes the heart grow fonder and tears are only rain to make love grow."
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"I don't think any of us really knows why we're here. But I think we're supposed to believe we're here for a purpose."
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