Quote

[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.

Ray Charles

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Ray Charles
Age: 71 †
Born: 1932
Born: September 23
Died: 2004
Died: June 10
Composer
Jazz Musician
Music Arranger
Musician
Pianist
Recording Artist
Saxophonist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Soul Musician
Vocalist
Albany
Georgia
Ray Charles Robinson
Raymond Charles Robinson Peter
Addiction
Blind
Wasn
Poor
Society
Black
Pusher
Heroin

More quotes by Ray Charles

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I can't help what I sound like. What I sound like is what i am. You know? I cannot be anything other that what I am.
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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.
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The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.
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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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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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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.
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Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically.
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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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I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been able to hear.
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I heard someone say that all black people got rhythm. Bullshit.
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When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.
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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
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Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice.
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When I'm having a rehearsal and there are new guys who come in to try out for the job, I always let my conductor rehearse them. Because I don't want the guy to get bent out of shape, because I walk in.
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I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of
Ray Charles
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Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy.
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Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more, no more, no more, no more. Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more.
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Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate
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It's like Duke Ellington said, there are only two kinds of music - good and bad. And you can tell when something is good.
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Sighted people, you gotta deal with them.
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