If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.

I can't say that I'm always writing in my head but I do spend a lot of time in my head writing or coming up with ideas. And what I do usually is write the music and melody and then, you know, maybe the basic idea. But when I feel that I don't have a song or just say, God, please give me another song. And I just am quiet and it happens.

Life has meaning only in the struggle. Triumph or defeat is in the hands of the Gods. So let us celebrate the struggle!

We all have ability. The difference is how we use it.

Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it

God gave me life to continue to do things that I would never have done.

Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn't mean he lacks vision.

Ya gots to work with what you gots to work with.

I am what I am. I love me! And I don't mean that egotistically - I love that God has allowed me to take whatever it was that I had and to make something out of it.

I am what I am. I love me! And I don't mean that egotistically - I love that God has allowed me to take whatever it was that I had and to make something out of it.

Do you know, it's funny, but I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage.

What I'm not confused about is the world needing much more love, no hate, no prejudice, no bigotry and more unity, peace and understanding. Period.

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

Do you know, it's funny, but I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage.

I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around.

You know, I always when people ask me, like, what is my most favorite song, I quote Duke Ellington, when they would ask him, what's his favorite composition? And I say, I haven't written it yet. Because, you know, there are different songs for different occasions.

The right to bear arms? What about the right to live?

I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around.

You know, I always when people ask me, like, what is my most favorite song, I quote Duke Ellington, when they would ask him, what's his favorite composition? And I say, I haven't written it yet. Because, you know, there are different songs for different occasions.

You can't base your life on other people's expectations.

For the most part, I feel really comfortable with what I've given to the people. I want to give it to them again.

I might sing a gospel song in Arabic or do something in Hebrew. I want to mix it up and do it differently than one might imagine.

I think honestly, some people who think they're gay, they're confused.

This is like one thing that I've tried to do, and I think successfully, that when you realize that nothing really belongs to you, you begin to appreciate having an understanding of just where your head is at, and you feel so much better.

Sometimes, I feel I am really blessed to be blind because I probably would not last a minute if I were able to see things.

Clearly, love is love, between a man and a woman, a woman and a man, a woman and a woman and a man and a man.

I listen a lot to rap, and I'm inspired to take it, to use it in another way, to get the message across.

When I was a child, kids used to make fun of me because I was blind. But I just became more curious, 'How can I climb this tree and get an apple for this girl?' That's what mattered to me.

No one has been a greater advocate for the power of love in this world than I; both in my life and in my music.

I am all for anything that is going to better equip a person who is physically challenged in any way, to have an opportunity to be able to do what they are able to do.

I guess people expect or figure me to be a lot of different things.

My mother had a rule, obviously, that I couldn't go across the street by myself, but I had to find a way of doing it.

I remember the beginnings of the Kurzweil reading machine. I was one of the first to meet Ray Kurzweil and purchase the reading machine in Boston. To think that the machine was at least two and a half large suitcases at the time, and now you have a camera and it takes a picture and you have sound.

I do believe in women. I really do.

Blind don't mean you can't, you know, listen.

Sometimes I wish I could drive a car, but I'm gonna drive a car one day, so I don't worry about that.

I know there are thousands of images of me.

First of all, I'm no better than the next person.

We're going to miss his love because it was real, it's pure. We got you, Lou. We got you forever and always.

You know, I have seven children, so I guess I know some things about life.

We need to have more respect for each other, ... Things have just gone really crazy, out of control. ... We're on a very weird kind of cycle.

I was never afraid to put this out. That was never the issue -- ever. I wanted it to sound contemporary but still be me. It was just a matter of getting it right.

You should definitely choose this as a profession.

A friend had a couple of pairs made up for me, ... I think the album is coming out.

This was great. Let's do it again, soon.

Some things are definitely our responsibility as individuals, and certain things are the responsibility of people committed to making sure everything is OK,

It's really me saying, 'a time to love,' meaning a time to care in the world,

It is time for change, and the change is going to come in less than 48 hours.

The feeling of handing over the masters is you've done you're part and you're excited it's complete,