Al Green

“They used to talk about it in shop class, say, 'That kid right there can sing,' and I was going, like, 'I wonder who they're talking about?'”

“I have found people on both sides of the aisle, white and black, that'll give you the shirt off their back. And I've also found people that won't give you a piece of bread if you're starving to death.”

“'Al Green Explores Your Mind' is really kind of a very personal record for me.”

“I was knocking on people's doors. I knocked on a white couple's door, and I told them, I says, 'Excuse me, but I've been born again.' The guy said, 'Hon, call security. There's a little black guy here talking about how he been born again. Call the police.'”

“My dad didn't believe that I was going to make it through school, and that was the only thing I was determined to do, because he said that I wasn't going to do it.”

“No child wants to fail. Everyone wants to succeed.”

“Before I knew it, I was singing, 'I'm so tired of being alone,' and that's Al right there. From then, my attitude was, 'Let Otis be Otis and James be James. I'm not going to emulate them anymore.'”

“My brothers and I had a gospel quartet, and that was the only music people listened to. But I was already gravitating towards songs by Sam Cooke, and then one day I put on a Jackie Wilson record, and baby, I was thrown right out of the house.”

“I didn't have a mother; I had a mama. I measure other women by the stature of my mama.”

“Suicide is not an answer, it's destruction.”

“People still come up to me and ask me to sign their records. That's right, records! Man, they don't even make records no more!”

“I figured that if we had to choose the woman president, she'd be the first woman president, and if we had the kid from Honolulu and the Harvard graduate, we'd have the first black president. They were both lawyers, and they knew the law, and I saw Obama and said that he's got some vision, and that's what a lot of people are latching on to.”

“I feel like the 'Greatest Hits' is a homegrown remedy for love.”

“I learned more stuff in church than I did in the world.”

“Pakistan's being an ally and helping the United States, we ought to show Pakistan that we are appreciative for the help that's been extended.”

“When I was ordained as a pastor, I walked away from secular music for seven, eight years. It took me that time to learn that God is love.”

“I started singing when I was a little kid. I was about nine when we had a group with my four brothers. We sang spirituals. The old regular thing.”

“I said, 'I'm a rock star. I can't preach in nobody's church. Are you crazy?' Let alone buy one. Oh, I wound up buying one.”

“I'm thankful for every moment.”

“There's a tendency to make more money at concerts. That's from a financial standpoint. Night clubs have a better feel, better contact between the artist and the audience.”