Quotes by James Brown

• 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.
• I've been knocked down a lot of times.
• 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.
• My expectations of other people, I double them on myself.
• You only live once.
• You can't teach others if you are living the same way.
• You can take care of yourself, and God helps those who help themselves.
• 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.
• When God took it, he accepted it; when he brought it back, he accepted it. That's what's happening with me.
• I'm not going to be joining ZZ Top. You know they can't play my stuff. It's too complicated.
• 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.
• I've been held responsible for taxes I know nothing about.
• I just thank God for all of the blessings.
• I'm kidding about having only a few dollars. I might have a few dollars more.
• I named my new son James Joseph Brown II. I think he's going to be a lot better than I was.
• Sometimes I feel like I'm a preacher as well, 'cause I can really get into an audience.
• 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.
• Thank God for the journey.
• The hardest thing about being James Brown is I have to live. I don't have no down time.
• The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing.
• I taught them everything they know, but not everything I know.
• 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.
• Hair is the first thing. And teeth the second. Hair and teeth. A man got those two things he's got it all.
• I got a wife who likes expensive things, so she takes all the cash.
• 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 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 want to say to you, Help yourself, so you can help someone else.
• 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.
• I'd like to cut down on the work a little bit.
• I did the thing with bonds, which was about 30 million dollars, and didn't get none of the money on them.
• Life is like a sandwich—no matter how you fill it, the key is in how you bite into it.