It was a way out of poverty. It was a way to success. It was a way to education. And it was a way to a brighter day for me.

I think they saw me as something like a deliverer, a way out. My means of expression, my music, was a way in which a lot of people wished they could express themselves and couldn't.

Rock 'n' roll offered me a platform to speak what I felt. It also offered me a platform to support my mama and my brothers and sisters - twelve children.

Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul.

But men are so full of greed today, they'll sell anything for a little piece of money.

I'm here to sing.

I always knew I was a man, always felt that I was a man, always wanted to be a man.

I only wore makeup when I went onstage.

But when I went on the stage to do a show, I would put on makeup because I felt that it enhanced my act; it drew attention to what I was doing.

It was a way out of poverty. It was a way to success. It was a way to education. And it was a way to a brighter day for me.

I also like the banging piano - that old good-time piano.

I don't think a woman has to act like a man to show that she has strength.

I would wear flamboyant clothes and long hair, and most singers at the time didn't.

And I don't get down on nobody else for doing whatever else they do. To each his own.

I just want the world to know that God is present, that he's alive for ever more.

I tried to look presentable for a show, but not for sexual attraction. It was strictly for show business.

I'm very much a gentleman in what I do.

When you sit down and think about what rock 'n' roll music really is, then you have to change that question. Played up-tempo, you call it rock 'n' roll; at a regular tempo, you call it rhythm and blues.

I let people know that it was all right to do the kinds of things I did.

I did what I felt, and I felt what I did, at all costs.

I love God, and I'm a follower.

I was always my own person.

Gay people are the sweetest, kindest, most artistic, warmest and most thoughtful people in the world. And since the beginning of time all they've ever been is kicked.

But I'm a rock 'n' roll singer; that's my livelihood, my occupation.

I've never seen the devil create music.

I also think that what's wrong with all of us is that we don't show enough love toward each other.

I was really kind of shy as a child. But I would do things for attention.

I don't think that you have to be effeminate to be sensitive.

God is omnipotent, He is omniscient, and He is ever present.

If I had my life to live over, I would want to be a man.

I don't give the devil credit for creating nothing.

But I was singing loud, and most singers weren't singing loud.

Now they have banging guitar and no bass and call it rock, but that's not what I call rock.

God gives us the ability, but rock 'n' roll was created by men.

Some situations you cause yourself.

And I think a woman should find it a joy to be female because God made both male and female.

To me, true rock 'n' roll has a lot of bottom in it.

I try to be a guide for people, to make their darkness bright and to make the pathway light, and never to condemn or control or criticize.

I think people who don't believe in God are crazy. How can you say there is no God when you hear the birds singing these beautiful songs you didn't make?

Plus I love Tanya Tucker and I love country music.

No, I've never truly been a minister.

And I'd like to give my love to everybody, and let them know that the grass may look greener on the other side, but believe me, it's just as hard to cut.

I think that a man should be caring.

I never accepted the idea that I had to be guided by some pattern or blueprint.

I never heard nobody in my audience call me any kind of names.

I think God made a woman to be strong and not to be trampled under the feet of men. I've always felt this way because my mother was a very strong woman, without a husband.

I thank God for making me a man.

Like, my mother would have company over, and I would sing so they'd pay attention to me.

A lot of people call me the architect of rock & roll. I don't call myself that, but I believe it's true.