My mother was a churchgoing lady, so I always heard about God at home.

Songwriting is my gift from God.

There are very few courses around Detroit I haven't played.

You know what, life is full of temptations.

There's so many wonderful gospel people out there, and I don't necessarily want to compete with those people.

I don't ever balk at being considered a Motown person, because Motown is the greatest musical event that ever happened in the history of music.

We're very physical creatures, and we worry about how we look sometimes more than our spiritual selves.

Motown will always be a heavy-duty part of my life because those are my roots.

When you write a song, a song has longevity.

We're all going to be victims of temptation at several points in our lives.

I played golf all over Detroit.

I've been speaking at churches for years, as well as juvenile jails, rehabs and hospitals, and I always talk about my faith. That is a declaration of my relationship with God.

Drugs are in every walk of life - doctors, lawyers, preachers, the guy who works for IBM, teenagers on the street, teenagers in school.

The only thing you're taking out of here is your spirit and your soul, so we need to be conscious to try and develop that part of ourselves, because we're all spiritual creatures.

I always try to write a song, I never just want to write a record.

Once you're a Motown artist, that's your stigmatism, and I was there from the very first day.

I really haven't strayed too far, musically, from my roots.

I left Motown because of the regime of people who were there.

Originally I was not writing songs for myself.

Even if I don't release it myself, somebody else might hear it and want to record it. When you write a song, it gives it that potential.

As human beings, we're very materialistic and have all this stuff - furs and cars and diamonds and money.

My mother was a churchgoing lady, so I always heard about God at home.

Once you're a Motown artist, you're always a Motown artist.

And I can say this, most of the people who have recorded my songs are songwriters themselves.

That's because we did not set out to make black music. We set out to make quality music that everyone could enjoy and listen to.

People still look at Michael Jackson as being a Motown artist.

In fact, I wouldn't really call this a Gospel album, I call it more an inspirational album.

When someone picks up one of my songs and records it, I'm a flattered man, it's a blessing to me.

As a kid, this is what I wanted my life to be. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever dare to dream that it would be this.

You know what, I'm probably one of the most blessed people there's ever been, and I thank God for it.

One thing I can say about the Motown acts is that we were a family. That's not a myth.

Had I not come out with an inspirational CD, you perhaps would have never known that I feel like I feel, that all songs, all the music I've ever done is a gift from God.

So I wanted to sing inspirational music, and that's exactly how I approached it - only the words have been changed to declare my relationship with God.

I had been stockpiling Gospel songs for other artists, and had planned to submit them to Gospel artists.

A taste of honey is worse than none at all.

There's some sad things known to man, but ain't too much sadder than, the tears of a clown when no one's around.

As human beings, we're very materialistic and have all this stuff furs and cars and diamonds and money.

Songwriting is my gift from God.

This is God's work. Therefore it must be triumphant. There is no place for misgiving or despondency.

Many are needed to plant and water what has been planted now that the faith has spread so far and there are so many people... No matter who plants or waters, God gives no harvest unless what is planted is the faith of Peter and unless he agrees to his teachings.

God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.

I frankly don't care if you agree with my stand on abortion. I take that stand because no other stand is consistent with decent principles, and no other standard is consistent with the will of God.

The robe of flesh wears thin, and with the years God shines through all things.

The good poet sticks to his real loves, those within the realm of possibility. He never tries to hold hands with God or the human race.

Humanity is the sin of God.

Fight the good fight of faith, and God will give you spiritual mercies.

We are all gifted, but we have to discover the gift, uncover the gift, nurture and develop the gift and use it for the Glory of God and for the liberation struggle of our people.

This subsistence, or manner of being of God is his one essence so far as it has personal properties.

When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance.