B. B. King

What don’t I want to learn? I have how-to books, history, nature. Ain’t nobody here saying, ‘You’d better learn this.’ But I still think I’ve got a head on my shoulders, and it pleases me.

Touring a segregated America – forever being stopped and harassed by white cops hurt you most ‘cos you don’t realise the damage. You hold it in. You feel empty, like someone reached in and pulled out your guts. You feel hurt and dirty, less than a person.

My last divorce was in ’68. What made it come to a head was a promise. See, I had promised her that the next year I wouldn’t work as much. But then I got in trouble with the IRS, and I had to continue working just as much to pay the government. So she said I lied, which is something I never did.

It seems like I always had to work harder than other people. Those nights when everybody else is asleep, and you sit in your room trying to play scales. I just wonder where I was when the talent was being given out, like George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Eric Clapton… oh, there’s many more! I wouldn’t want to be like them, you understand, but I’d like to be equal, if you will.

When I was in the country and I was trying to play, nobody seemed to pay too much attention to me. People used to say, ‘That’s just that ole blues singer.’

I’d solo on my guitar; then sing; then solo; then sing some more. one stopped when the other started. That way I felt a continuity, not a conflict, like a wheel that keeps turning. Both sounds – guitar and voice – were coming out of me, but they issued from different parts of my soul.

When you get to the top, don’t forget to send the elevator down for the next guy.

Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay, Love isn’t love ’til you give it away!

When hungry, eat your rice; when tired, close your eyes. Fools may laugh at me, but wise men will know what I mean.

I’m a product of pop culture.

Anyone can do something when they want to do it. Really successful people do things when they don’t want to do it.

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face.

If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed.

When you cease to exist, then who will you blame?

A person who trusts no one can’t be trusted.

Oh, everybody wears a mask. We all put our best foot forward. We all try and make a statement, I’m not saying that’s bad.

There’s a part of me I can’t get back. A little girl grew up too fast. All it took was once, I’ll never be the same.