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I'm Self-taught. But I Finally Learned That They Was Having Little Shows Or Night Dances Or Whatever You Call Them At Little Juke Joints Not Far From Where I Lived, And I Used To Go There. They Wouldn't Let Me Play Inside, But I Could Sit Outside On The Weekends, When It Wasn't Raining Or Something.

-B. B. King

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I'm Self-taught. But I

B. B. King

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I'm Self-taught. But I Finally Learned That They Was Having Little Shows Or Night Dances Or Whatever You Call Them At Little Juke Joints Not Far From Where I Lived, And I Used To Go There. They Wouldn't Let Me Play Inside, But I Could Sit Outside On The Weekends, When It Wasn't Raining Or Something.

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There Was A Lot Of Other Young Players Around At That Time When I Was Coming, But There Was Older People Like Blind Lemon, Which Was One Of My Favorites. I Don't Know, Just Seemed Like Everybody I Heard Could Play Better Than Me.

I Don't Think Anybody Steals Anything; All Of Us Borrow.

The Way I Feel Today, As Long As My Health Is Good And I Can Handle Myself Well And People Still Come To My Concerts, Still Buy My Cds, I'll Keep Playing Until I Feel Like I Can't.

If You Want To Be A Good Blues Singer, People Are Going To Be Down On You, So Dress Like You're Going To The Bank To Borrow Money.

It Just Seemed To Me That The Way I Played Was Nice. I Could Hear It Myself.

You Never Miss What You've Never Had. I Never Had Any Other Life. I Didn't Know Any Other Life.

I've Put Up With More Humiliation Than I Care To Remember.

A Lot Of People Believe What Other People Say.

I Always Liked The Steel Guitar. I Also Love The Guys That Play The Bottleneck. But I Could Never Do It; I Never Made It Do What I Want. So Every Time I Would Pick Up The Guitar, I'd Shake My Hand And Trill It A Bit. For Some Strange Reason My Ears Would Say To Me That Sounds Similar To What Those Guys Were Doing. I Can't Pick Up The Guitar Now Without Doing It. So That's How I Got Into Making My Sound. It Was Nothing Pretty. Just Trying To Please Myself. I Heard That Sound.

When I Do Eventually Drop, I Pray To God That It Will Happen In One Of Three Ways. Firstly, On Stage Or Leaving The Stage, Then Secondly In My Sleep. And The Third Way? You'll Have To Figure That Out For Yourself!

I Think Of Guitar Players In Terms Of Doctors: You Have The Doctor For Your Heart, The Cardiologist, Then One That Works On Your Feet, Your Leg. But I Believe George Benson Is The One That Plays All Over. To Me, He Would Be The M.d. Of Them All.

Albert King Wasn't My Brother In Blood, But He Sure Was My Brother In Blues

Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven, But No One Wants To Die To Get There!

Hard Times Don't Necessarily Mean Being Poor All The Time. I've Known People That Was A Part Of A Family And Always Feel That The Family Likes Everybody Else But Them. That Hurts And That's As Deep A Hurt As You Can Possibly Get.

If It Wasn't For The British Musicians, A Lot Of Us Black Musicians In America Would Still Be Catchin' The Hell That We Caught Long Before. So Thanks To Them, Thanks To All You Guys. You Opened Doors That I Don't Think Would Have Been Opened In My Lifetime. When White America Started Paying Attention To The Blues - It Started Opening A Lot Of Doors That Had Been Closed To Us.

I Can't Think Of Anyone I've Mistreated. I've Always Thought That I Am My Brother's Keeper. And I Believe There's A 'great Spirit' That Takes Care Of All Of Us.

The Blues Was Bleeding The Same Blood As Me.

I Thought Eric Clapton Was Good. He Still Is. Not Only Is He Good - He's Rock's #1 Guitarist, And He Plays Blues Better Than Most Of Us

I've Known People That Was A Part Of A Family And Always Feel That The Family Liked Everyone Else But Them. That Hurts, And That's As Deep A Hurt As You Can Possibly Get. I've Known People That Would Have Problems With Their Love Life. This Is Kind Of How Blues Began - Out Of Feeling Misused, Mistreated. Feeling Like They Had Nobody To Turn To. Blues Don't Necessarily Have To Be Sung By A Person That Came From Mississippi As I Did, Because There Are People Having Problems All Over The World.

It Seems Like I Always Had To Work Harder Than Other People. Those Nights When Everybody Else Is Asleep, And You Sit In Your Room Trying To Play Scales. I Just Wonder Where I Was When The Talent Was Being Given Out, Like George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Eric Clapton ... Oh, There's Many More! I Wouldn't Want To Be Like Them, You Understand, But I'd Like To Be Equal, If You Will.

I Did Several Shows With Jimi Hendrix, That's When I Got To Know Him Better, I Knew Of Him, I Met Him [when He Was Playing] With Little Richard... And He Was Kind Of Quiet, Shy, He Didn't Open Up Too Much, But There Were Questions As We All Ask Each Other. You Know, "how Do You Do This" And "why Do You Do That..." We Had Very Small Discussions On Things Like That. And He Was Very Polite, I Thought [he Was] A Very Nice Guy.

Charlie Christian Had No More Impact On My Playing Than Django Reinhardt Or Lonnie Johnson. I Just Wanted To Play Like Him. I Wanted To Play Like All Of Them. All Of These People Were Important To Me. I Couldn't Play Like Any Of Them, Though.

Playing The Guitar Is Like Telling The Truth - You Never Have To Worry About Repeating The Same [lie] If You Told The Truth. You Don't Have To Pretend, Or Cover Up. If Someone Asks You Again, You Don't Have To Think About It Or Worry About It Because There It Is. It's You.

I Don't Like Anybody To Be Angry With Me. I'd Rather Have Friends.

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There's A Sadness To All Kinds Of Music If You Want To Hear It. There's Also Happiness To It If You Want To Hear It.

I Was Glad To See Other Blues Guitarists Like Albert King Have Crossover Successes Like Me. We Played In The Same Places Like The Whisky And The Filmore. When Albert Made His Guitar Cry, He Could Cut You So Deep!

We All Have Idols. Play Like Anyone You Care About But Try To Be Yourself While You're Doing So.

Blues Purists Never Cared For Me. I Don't Worry About It. I Think If It This Way: When I Made 'three O' Clock Blues,' They Were Not There. The People Out There Made The Tune. And Blues Purists Just Wrote About It. The People Is Who I'm Trying To Satisfy.

May I Live Forever. But May You Live Forever And A Day.

The Beautiful Thing About Learning Is Nobody Can Take It Away From You.

A Lot Of Times I Say To Myself, "i Wished I Could Be Worthy Of All The Compliments That People Give Me Sometimes." I'm Not Inventing Anything That's Going To Stop Cancer Or Muscular Dystrophy Or Anything, But I Like To Feel That My Time And Talent Is Always There For The People That Need It. When Someone Do Say Something Negative, Most Times I Think About It, But It Don't Bother Me That Much.

And As Long As People Have Problems, The Blues Can Never Die.

When I Sing, I Play In My Mind; The Minute I Stop Singing Orally, I Start To Sing By Playing Lucille.

I've Always Liked Ladies All My Life. I Guess It Started With My Mom. So Every Time I Saw A Pretty Lady, I Thought, She's Pretty.

I Never Use That Word, Retire.

Music Is Good For Everybody. They Say It Soothes The Savage Beast. Well, I Think Theirs A Beast In All Of Us. So Let's Get Some More Music And Soothe All The Beasts Out There.

The Blues Are Three L's - Living , Loving And Hopefully, Laughing.

I Look At An Audience Kind Of Like Meeting My In-laws For The First Time. You Want To Be Yourself, But You Still Want To Be Somebody That They Like. When I Go On The Stage Each Night, I Try My Best To Outguess My Audience.

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It's Going To Be Years And Years Before Most People Realize How Greatly He Contributed To American Music.

I Don’t Like To Feel That I Owe Anything. I Like To Feel That I Pay My Own Way, No Free Lunch.

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Being A Blues Singer Is Like Being Black Two Times.

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Water From The White Fountain Didn't Taste Any Better Than From The Black Fountain.

I Call Myself A Blues Singer, But You Ain't Never Heard Me Call Myself A Blues Guitar Man.

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I Don't Think It's Meant For Man To Know Everything At Once.

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