I had the qualifications, but I was not chosen.

The blues is the foundation, and it's got to carry the top. The other part of the scene, the rock 'n' roll and the jazz, are the walls of the blues.

I've been waiting for that bright sunshine to show up and shine in my back door someday.

In the blues, it just takes so long for us to get recognized.

I don't want to be in some big beautiful place that nobody want me, because I play the blues.

But let's face it, I still have to look at my self and look at the things I've done down the stretch.

In the States, it takes you a lifetime just to get from Chicago's South Side to the West Side.

So I cut out all the drinkin' and hangin' out and stuff like that early on.

Before I left, I opened a lot of doors for a lot of people to play the blues.

And I can do the rock clubs if I have to.

But you know, I still had a dream of being able to go back home and tour.

I think I'm the most positive guy still going in my generation, and I'm out there to prove that.

But I did that, and I created another blues scene, another something I can sing about.

But there was not a job that could say that Luther Allison didn't do his job.

I mean, look how many musicians have come through and played beside me, and I'm workin' and they're not.

I focused on how these people became how they were.

We played the same thing in Europe we played in the States.

I have as much input to the blues; I just never got the chance, the opportunity or maybe the respect.

I look in music magazines now and see things on Luther Allison, and my name's getting out there more, thanks to all the good people at Alligator Records and at my management company.

When I got to Chicago I had to find my way.

I want people to recognize Luther Allison when I play.

But my big thing was always the blues.

Well, I've had to deal with everything in my life... leavin' the family, learnin' what not and what to do.

I want to play in a place people want to hear me.

What I want to do, is play music for somebody who believe in me.

Me being a skinny guy, I could crawl into the steel pit.

Well, I first started going to Europe in the late '70s.

Buddy Guy finally got a break and made it. And Buddy Guy deserves it.

But I never had that commercial opportunity to be played on the radio, so how could I be popular?

I had the qualifications, but I was not chosen.

The blues is the foundation and its got to carry the top. The other part of the scene the rock n roll and the jazz are the walls of the blues.

If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.

I'm really grateful to my fans - to all the people who support me.

I've always had to have some kind of failure before I was successful.

The master is not the one who teaches; it's the one who suddenly learns.

If I was just normally intelligent, I could probably get away with it - but I'm fiercely intelligent and that's threatening.

The key to staying together is making sure you guys like each other and need each other.

To be sincere means to be the same person when one is with oneself; that is to say, alone - but that is all it means.

In life, everything just happens, and I believe even before we are born that our role in life has already been determined. My main ambition is to continue to write music, which helps me to evolve in a spiritual sense and hopefully to inspire others.

Eventually the dollar won't always rule. Eventually there will be a challenge to the United States and it will have to be like other countries that are a bit concerned about their currency, and then have to ratchet back in order to - right, in order to sustain. We just haven't reached that point yet.

There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.

We are a nation of immigrants, a quilt of many colors, and we've managed over more than two centuries to create a way of life that allows for a reasonable degree of upward mobility, that prizes individual liberty, promotes freedom of religion and genuinely values equal rights for all citizens.

Relying on the face might be human nature even babies prefer to look at attractive people. But of course judging someone based on the geometry of his features is from a moral and legal standpoint no better than judging him based on the color of his skin.

Why do you need a drivers license to buy liquor when you cant drink and drive

I just believe in the goodwill of people, the power of people to do something positive.

No man can be an agnostic who has a sense of humour.

I love making down-home Southern cooking, and just chilling out and having cakes and pies and baking stuff, you know. I'm a pretty simple girl.

During the past three years spectacular progress has been made in increasing wheat, rice, and maize production in several of the most populous developing countries of southern Asia, where widespread famine appeared inevitable only five years ago.

Three thousand people singing back your songs is an incredible feeling.