B. B. King

I guess you can look at me, and tell I’m the old man. My name is BB King.

You never miss what you’ve never had. I never had any other life. I didn’t know any other life.

The minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.

I started to like blues, I guess, when I was about 6 or 7 years old. There was something about it, because nobody else played that kind of music.

I used to play – when I first started trying to be professional, I disk jockey from 1949 to 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, and I was quite popular there as a disk jockey.

Water from the white fountain didn’t taste any better than from the black fountain.

You can never say you’re big – I don’t think you can ever take anything like that for granted.

The difference between male comedy writers and female comedy writers is that the male ones are taller and weigh more.

I wrote my own verses. Anything I did, I wrote myself.

I wanted my voice to be a tenor sax, really.

Two Sundays don’t make a season. But if we keep it together, we are going to win a whole bunch of races this year.

Well, I don’t like the word ‘rock star,’ the two words, ‘rock star.’ Not even ‘soft rock star’. Not even limestone star. I don’t like those words.

If you have paparazzi, you know you’ve gotten somewhere.

I’ll be ready for it to happen and that way it won’t happen. It’s a burden, being able to control situations with my hyper-vigilance, but it’s my lot in life.

What is really important for a woman, you know, even more than being beautiful or intelligent, is to be entertaining.

Prison sentences are a lot like penises – if they’re used correctly, even a short one can do the trick… is a rumor I have heard.

Just keep taking chances and having fun.

It really bothers me when people don’t use coasters. Particularly on my table.

[On trying to get out of the part of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line] I called my attorney. My agent. My manager. I said “You know y’all, you’re serious about this? I’m really.. I gotta get out of this. Like can’t they call ‘Leann Rimes’? I mean she’s good.

[On his first red carpet experience] I walked out the wrong car door and started walking into the crowd, An interviewer said, ‘Give your best horror scream,’ and Stan did this great scream and I was too much of a wimp to do one. It was pathetic!

I don’t like a tremendous amount of conflict. I don’t think that fighting and passion are the same thing.