B. B. King

You never miss what you’ve never had. I never had any other life. I didn’t know any other life.

When I do eventually drop, I pray to God that it’ll happen in one of three ways. Firstly, on stage or leaving the stage, then secondly in my sleep. And the third way? You’ll have to figure that out for yourself!

People all over the world have problems. And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.

I was shocked more than most white people to find we had a black President!

There have been times when I’ve been around people I wouldn’t care to be around, and if I could get away I would. We have a word in Mississippi – we just don’t seem to set horses. In other words, this person is always saying something that gets your goat, y’understand? But when people treat you mean, you dislike them for that, but not because of their person, who they are. I was born and raised in a segregated society, but when I left there I had nobody I disliked other than the people that’d mistreated me, and that only lasted for as long as they were mistreating me.

If my fans want to do something for me when that time comes, I say, don’t waste your money on me. Help the homeless. Help the needy… people who don’t have no food… Instead of some big funeral, where they come from here and there and all over. Save it.

Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stressed; working hard for something we love is called passion.

An obstacle is often a stepping stone.

People who exercise their embryonic freedom day after day, little by little, expand that freedom. People who do not will find that it withers until they are literally being lived. They are acting out scripts written by parents, associates and society.

We need to understand the difference between discipline and punishment. Punishment is what you do to someone; discipline is what you do for someone.

Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.

Fear is the great extinguisher of dreams… Conversely, it can be your best mentor and source of motivation.

Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but don’t quit.

There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

You have nothing to lose. Everything you have acquired of value is locked inside you.

Precision, instinct and tempo are all necessary in order to become extraordinary.

Americans never quit.

The most important investment you can make is in yourself.

If you aim at nothing, you will hit every time.

What shapes our lives are the questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think to ask.