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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.

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
Cannot
Anything
Like
Help
Sound
Helping

More quotes by Ray Charles

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I had to pawn my clothes just to pay my rent.
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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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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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Art Tatum -- he was a genius. And Einstein, not me.
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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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[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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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.'
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay, a big stack of bills that gets bigger each day.
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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.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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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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Sighted people, you gotta deal with them.
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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.
Ray Charles
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Goodbye don't mean gone.
Ray Charles
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There's such a thing as too much happiness and sadness. What I'm after is contentment.
Ray Charles
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Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. ... This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it.
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You got to set your mind right and the rest will come to you naturally. No restrictions, no hang-ups, no stupid rules, no formalities, no forbidden fruit - just everyone getting and giving as much as he and she can.
Ray Charles
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There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we're here to explore new possibilities.
Ray Charles
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The role of the designer is basically that of a good host, anticipating the needs of the guest.
Ray Charles