I'm singing these songs to inspire you, to keep you going, to lift you up and give you a reason to get up in the morning.

I’m just singing what I feel in my heart.

Whenever somebody tells me they want me to stop singing, I’m gone.

I’m old enough to be Obama’s grandmom. But I still like seeing good-looking things. Nothing wrong with that.

Well Lord, I’m still on the case. I’m still doing what Dr. King and Pops want me to do. I’m still on that freedom highway, and I’m going to walk on it until Dr. King’s dream is realized.

I never sang for a Grammy, for money, for fame. That’s my whole purpose for singing: for people, for the fans.

I just had a wonderful life, and I couldn’t ask for anything else.

I’m singing these songs to inspire you, to keep you going, to lift you up and give you a reason to get up in the morning.

If I wasn’t my age, I would turn a flip. I would do some cartwheels. That’s how I feel.

I started writing letters home to my mother, saying that I wanted to come home, grandma won’t let me sing.