"The blues to me is like a prayer. It's a way of talking to God."

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

"I'm not a symbol. I'm a woman."

"I don't know what I'd do without music. It's the only thing that keeps me going."

"I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close-order drill or exercise or yodeling or somethin…"