"I can't retire. What would I do? Sit around and watch my toenails grow?"

"I don't sing to sound like nobody. I sing to sound like Ray Charles."

"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."

"I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been blind. I might have been a pimp or a dope pusher."

"I don't give a damn about what people think about me."