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" To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music. "

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" I'm not a blues singer, I'm a diva. "

" Once I understood Bach's music, I wanted to be a concert pianist. Bach made me dedicate my life to music, and it was that teacher who introduced me to his world. "

" There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were. "

" To me, we are the most beautiful creatures in the whole world. Black people. And I mean that in every sense. "

" Desegregation is a joke. "

" I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat - a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second. "

" I think if I were over there in America, protest music would be more important. But I'm not going. "

" I try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel. "

" The protest years were over, not just for me but for a whole generation, and in music, just like in politics, many of the greatest talents were dead or in exile, and their place was filled by third-rate imitators. "

" Did you know that the human voice is the only pure instrument? That it has notes no other instrument has? It's like being between the keys of a piano. The notes are there, you can sing them, but they can't be found on any instrument. That's like me. I live in between this. I live in both worlds, the black and white world. "

" As a political weapon, it has helped me for 30 years defend the rights of American blacks and third-world people all over the world, to defend them with protest songs. To move the audience to make them conscious of what has been done to my people around the world. "

" Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music. "

" I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important. "

" At this crucial time in our lives, when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don't think you can help but be involved. "

" What I was interested in was conveying an emotional message, which means using everything you've got inside you sometimes to barely make a note, or if you have to strain to sing, you sing. "

" I want to shake people up so bad, that when they leave a nightclub where I've performed, I just want them to be to pieces. "

" Slavery has never been abolished from America's way of thinking. "

" I'll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear. I mean really, no fear! "

" When I'm on that stage, I assume honor. I assume compensation, and I should. "

" I think the rich will eventually have to cave in too, because the economic situation around the world is not gonna tolerate the United States being on top forever. "

" I flirt all the time. I like men! I don't think we can do without them. "

" You get racism crossing the street; it's in the very fabric of American society. "

" I wasn't a jazz player, but a classical musician, and I improvised arrangements of popular songs using classical motifs. "

" This may be a dream, but I'll say it anyway: I was supposed to be married last year, and I bought a gown. When I meet Nelson Mandela, I shall put on this gown and have the train of it removed and put aside, and kiss the ground that he walks on and then kiss his feet. "

" From the beginning, it has been a no-no for a black man to touch a white woman. "

" Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream. "

" I didn't get interested in music. It was a gift from God. "