James Brown
I just thank God for all of the blessings.Collection: God
Like Christ said, love thee one another. I learned to do that, and I learned to respect and be appreciative and thankful for what I had.Collection: Thankful
I was stillborn. The midwives laid me aside, thought I was really gone. I laid there about an hour, and they picked me back up and tried again, 'cause my body was still warm. The Good Lord brought me back.Collection: Good
I'm kidding about having only a few dollars. I might have a few dollars more.Collection: Funny
The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing.
I taught them everything they know, but not everything I know.
When I'm on stage, I'm trying to do one thing: bring people joy. Just like church does. People don't go to church to find trouble, they go there to lose it.
Thank God for the journey.
I want to say to you, Help yourself, so you can help someone else.
My expectations of other people, I double them on myself.
Hair is the first thing. And teeth the second. Hair and teeth. A man got those two things he's got it all.
You can't teach others if you are living the same way.
You only live once.
You can take care of yourself, and God helps those who help themselves.
I named my new son James Joseph Brown II. I think he's going to be a lot better than I was.
I've been held responsible for taxes I know nothing about.
My son don't have to say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud. He don't have to be called those crazy names.
The hardest thing about being James Brown is I have to live. I don't have no down time.
I'd like to cut down on the work a little bit.
Sometimes you struggle so hard to feed your family one way, you forget to feed them the other way, with spiritual nourishment. Everybody needs that.
I had to tell about my colonic, which expresses the fact why I'm so neat today as opposed to a few years ago. I never knew that the weight made that much difference.
Michael Jackson has a very good heart. He was crying when he was giving me the award, 'cause his mind went back over the early days.
Sometimes I feel like I'm a preacher as well, 'cause I can really get into an audience.
When God took it, he accepted it; when he brought it back, he accepted it. That's what's happening with me.
I started Michael years ago. I saw him in Gary, Indiana, and we'd have him on the talent shows. He kind of emulated me, and did the best he could.
I got a wife who likes expensive things, so she takes all the cash.
I'm not going to be joining ZZ Top. You know they can't play my stuff. It's too complicated.
I did the thing with bonds, which was about 30 million dollars, and didn't get none of the money on them.
I think the best thing about being James Brown is looking at my little son. Hopefully I can make my son a role model to a lot of people.
I think what I came through is great, but my son can take it to another level, not having to fight racism. His mother's a Norwegian and I'm mixed up four or five times, so he can face the world.
I used to think like Moses. That knocked me down for a couple years and put me in prison. Then I start thinking like Job. Job waited and became the wealthiest and richest man ever 'cause he believed in God.
I've been knocked down a lot of times.
Don't terrorize. Organize. Don't burn. Give kids a chance to learn . . . The real answer to race problems in this country is education. Not burning and killing. Be ready. Be qualified. Own something. Be somebody. That's Black Power.Collection: Country
You got to use what you got to get just what you want.Collection: Success
I only got a seventh-grade education, but I have a doctorate in funk, and I like to put that to good useCollection: Use
Don't let nobody take care of your business better than you.Collection: Work
I don't really care what people think, ... I just do my own thing. ... I like being loud and letting people know I'm there.Collection: Thinking
I've got soul and I'm super bad.Collection: Soul
If you don't get it the first time, back up and try it again.Collection: Trying
Music, it requires more than brawn. It requires a lot of heart. You gotta put love in there.Collection: Heart
I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself)Collection: Doors
My music wasn't written by Mozart, Beethoven, Bach or Schubert. It's written by God and me. They go "a one and a two and up." We start on the downbeat. Bam! And that's where we got them.Collection: Two
You got to live for yourself, yourself and nobody else.Collection: Philosophy
When I'm on stage, I'm trying to do one thing: bring people joy.Collection: Music
Got ants in my pants and I need to dance, so big fine mama, come give me a chance.Collection: Giving
Our silence is deafening and deadly.Collection: Silence
In our advanced technological age, most people deny the possibility of miracles.... Miracles don't happen, we are told, because they contravene the laws of nature and worse, they sound religious! Yet we live and move in a sea of miracle.Collection: Religious
I don't know karate, but I know crazy.Collection: Revenge
I want to say to you: Help yourself, so you can help someone else.Collection: Want
Takes a man or a woman to say I'm sorry, and it takes a fool to walk away.Collection: Relationship