If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.

Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose.

If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.

Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better. All dope can do for you is kill you - and kill you the long, slow, hard way.

If I don't have friends, then I ain't got nothing.

You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling.

They think they can make fuel from horse manure - now, I don't know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it's sure gonna put a stop to siphoning.

All dope can do for you is kill you... the long hard way. And it can kill the people you love right along with you.

A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.

Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough.

I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.

I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.

One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head.

You've got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave.

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.

Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.

I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.

People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.

There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.

Singing songs like 'The Man I Love' or 'Porgy' is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck.

In this country, don't forget, a habit is no damn private hell. There's no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country it's the worst kind of hell for those who love you.

No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.

Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.

If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.

I don't think I missed a single picture Billie Dove ever made. I was crazy for her. I tried to do my hair like her, and eventually, I borrowed her name.

If Im going to sing like someone else then I dont need to sing at all.

You cant copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy it means youre working without any real feeling.

Never let formal education get in the way of your learning.

I have always loved story - I escaped within it as a child, I read every day, I love figuring out the complex layers of an author's work.

Anybody that I can work with that will help improve the lives of New Yorkers, I will work with that person.

Globalization has enriched the planet beyond belief leading to ever increased demands of perfection. And thanks to 247 communications we all instantaneously know when these expectations arent met.

I think that creative work, music in particular, is a conveyor of inner emotional life. I don't feel one way all the time, so I don't want my music to feel the same way all the time.

If the plane moves, some turbulence, I am nervous flyer.

I'm sure there's a long list of one-time all-stars, and I don't want to be on it.

I cannot transfer my abilities to anyone, but I can think of quicker ways with which to help people develop numerical aptitude.

When I came to the industry, many directors like Krishna Vamsi and Puri Jagannath had encouraged me a lot. Krishna Vamsi is my mentor, and I admire him. That's why I give chances to new directors.

Look, if you ask a child, 'Would you rather have a fulfilled mother or a stay-at-home Sylvia Plath,' they'll pick Sylvia Plath every time. But I think it's really important that children don't feel their parents' emotional lives depend on their success.

I wanted to be a neurologist. That seemed to be the most difficult, most intriguing, and the most important aspect of medicine, which had links with psychology, aggression, behavior, and human affairs.

I read all of Rider Haggard's books. For me he had the romance of Africa with a little bit of mysticism. I'm delighted to be looked on as his heir and be categorised as an adventure novelist because that's exactly what I am.

I like fiction and the kind of history that gives the grace and flavor of fiction to the past. No bloviation on current events, please. I can write that junk myself.

The fact of the matter is, this country is not going to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. What are we supposed to do with them? What are we supposed to do with these kids?

I don't know about you, but I find it exhilarating to see how vague psychological notions evaporate and give rise to a physical, mechanistic understanding of the mind, even if it's the mind of the fly.

I'm very concerned about the tone of politics in recent years. We've seen a decline in civility and bipartisanship, and a rapid increase in hostility between those who have differing opinions. I think this has led to the alienation of the public in governance, which jeopardizes democratic participation.

I don't know why every actor doesn't do more plays.

Being a superstar... can make life very difficult, difficult to grow. So I like to visit with my friends, listen to some fine music, drink some good wine, perhaps take a ride in the country in a fine car, or... just walk along the beach.

I think about cars to try and distract myself. It's a good way to relax, take your mind off everything.

When the time came for me to go to college, there was only one scholarship that my high school offered at the time and I didn't win that one, but that didn't stop me. I went on to college anyway. I worked my way through it and paid my student loans for 11 years.

Someone asked me what are the secrets to my success, and I said 'There are three: Timing, timing, timing.'