The image is one thing and the human being is another. It's very hard to live up to an image.

Talent is being able to sell what you're feeling.

Take care of the fans and they will sure as hell take care of you.

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.

Hollywood had lost sight of the basics. They're a lot of fancy talkers who like to pigeonhole you.

I believe in the Bible. I believe that all good things come from God. I don't believe I'd sing the way I do if God hadn't wanted me to.

We do two shows a night for five weeks. A lot of times we'll go upstairs and sing until daylight... gospel songs. We grew up with it. It more or less puts your mind at ease. It does mine. Gospel music is the purest thing there is on this earth.

There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing and thought it time well spent.

You only pass through this life once; you don't come back for an encore.

(While receiving "Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation Award")
When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times...I learned very early in life that, 'Without a song, the day would never end; without a song, a man ain't got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend -- without a song.' So I keep singing a song. Goodnight. Thank you.