Sam Cooke Quotes

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die. 'Cause I don't know what's up there, beyond the sky. ~ Sam Cooke

Well that's very kind of you, but voices ought not be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth. ~ Sam Cooke

I want people to see an honesty within me. I'm not trying to be the next Sam Cooke or Otis Redding. ~ Leon Bridges

My dad sung and played piano. But he was also a man of God. He was a minister. So when Sam Cooke would come in town, you know, with The Soul Stirrers at that time, he was singing gospel, they would end up at my dad's church, and it would always be a guest singer for Sunday morning. ~ Merry Clayton

Don't know much about history, don't know much biology, don't know much about a science book, don't know much about the French I took. ~ Sam Cooke

I say, as a singer grows older, his conception grows a little deeper, because he lives life and he understands what he is trying to say a little more. And I think this gives. If a singer tries to find out what's happening in life, it gives him a better insight on telling the story of the song he is trying to sing. ~ Sam Cooke

You know, I'll always be your slave 'til I'm buried, buried in my grave. ~ Sam Cooke

Man, if I was back home, I'd be swinging with two chicks on my arms. ~ Sam Cooke

I tried to stay away from the Euro beats, and not go totally pop. Instead, I wanted to take the Quincy Jones approach. The record pays homage to the Stevie Wonders, the Michael Jacksons, the Sam Cookes. I wanted to put that classic essence of R&B and soul with the new age of music now. There's a lot of live instruments, and a lot less Auto-Tune. I really wanted to demonstrate my vocal ability, creating the vibe of me singing along with a band. ~ Chris Brown

Estee Lauder cologne. Sam Cooke always wore it, and I started wearing it because he wore it. ~ Bobby Womack

I drew a lot of inspiration from the Ginuwines, the Ushers, the Michael Jacksons, the James Browns, Sam Cooke. ~ Chris Brown

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody ... .. ~ Sam Cooke

I had been on tour with people like Roy Orbison. I knew Bobby Darin, Sam Cooke. So many great performers. ~ Bobby Vinton

In my vocal, I think you can hear something of my earlier times when I'd sing in subway halls for the echo and perform doo-wop on street corners. But I had a lot of influences, too - singers like Sam Cooke, Brook Benton and Roy Hamilton. ~ Ben E. King

I was born by the river, in a little tent, and just like the river I've been running ever since. ~ Sam Cooke

People like Clyde McPhatter who came out of the black churches - like Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin - were all church singers who became great pop singers because gospel singing is very close to the blues. ~ Ahmet Ertegun

Ooh, ah, ooh, ah, that's the sound of the men working on the chain gang. ~ Sam Cooke

If I could just touch the hem of His garment
I know I'll be made whole ~ Sam Cooke

I'm coming from a Ginuwine and Usher background: slow and smooth songs. And that's why I really connected to Sam Cooke, because he was just very smooth. It's not like the James Brown types, which is all great stuff, but he was totally set apart from those guys. ~ Leon Bridges

I'd been listening to African-American music since the first record I ever bought, which was by Sam Cooke. And it sounds more like my private thoughts that I never thought I would be able to articulate - I never thought I would be able to express publicly. ~ David Toop

Dear Mama, don't cry, your baby boy's doin' good,
Tell the homies I'm in heaven, and they ain't got hoods.
Seen a show with Marvin Gaye last night, it had me shook,
Drippin' peppermint Schnapps, with Jackie Wilson, and Sam Cooke ... ~ Tupac Shakur

My father was very interested in music, and when he and his brothers were young, they had a singing group that used to open for Sam Cooke. There was always music in our house, but there wasn't much art around. ~ Carrie Mae Weems

I know a lot of people who are not here anymore, and I wonder why I'm still here ... Not a day goes by that I don't think about Sam Cooke. His presence is so strong and so convincing to me, a true artist, a true talent, who never talked down to people. ~ Bobby Womack

I grew up in a household in which they'd always play old skool classic R&B love songs - Al Green, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye ... And my mom has even said that, when I was in her womb, she'd put the headphones to her stomach and play those songs to me! ~ Jeremih

Popular music has always been rooted in the blues, whether it's Adele or Led Zeppelin or Sam Cooke. It's just the beat that changes. ~ L.A. Reid

The quality of our lives is diminished every time we lose a great artist. It's a different world without Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Curtis Mayfield, Brian Jones and the rest. ~ Steven Van Zandt

I think the secret is really observation. Well, if you observe what's going on and try to figure out how people are thinking, I think you can always write something that people will understand. ~ Sam Cooke

I'm gonna sing, and I'm going to make me a lot of money. ~ Sam Cooke

I have been influenced by many different artists at many different stages of my life. Starting out, it was people like Elton John, Billy Joel, Ben Folds, and Fiona Apple. As I got older I got deeper into the work of bands like the Beatles, artists like Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Etta James, and Joni Mitchell. ~ Sara Bareilles

Well the artists that inspire me were, first of all I would say Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, John Holt, Alton Ellis, Errol Dunkley, Delroy Wilson and Dennis Brown you know. They have unique voice and sweet melody and you know, good lyrics those time yeh. The music was very nice in that time still seen, because you find that even the musical part, the musicians concentrate more on the melody than everything, more than how they concentrate on the money that time you Know ~ Gregory Isaacs

It's been a long time coming. But I know a change is gonna come ~ Sam Cooke

I'm not James Brown. I'm not Sam Cooke. I'm Charley Pride. I'm just me and that's what you got. ~ Charley Pride

Beyond that row was a double row of trees. Sam headed in that direction, Dad on her heels.
"Be careful of snakes."
That stopped her in her tracks. She could deal with a snarling dog. A hissing cat. Even a spitting ferret like her cousin Chris had, but she had the biggest fear if snakes. It didn't matter if it was a grass snake or a supposedly good snake that ate the poisonous snakes. In Sam's opinion, the only good snake was a dead snake. Dead and chopped up into little, itty, bitty pieces.

~From "Samantha Sanderson On the Scene ~ Robin Caroll

I fear that my lesson in this lifetime is humility... and I think that lesson is beneath me. ~ Sam Harris

She thinks I'm a child who needs to be protected from the horrors of grown-ups, because she somehow forgets that the world of children has its own horrors. And that the world of teenagers holds the horrors of both. ~ Sam J. Miller

If we had a better understanding of the ways we think about enemies, we might be able to think of more rational ways of settling conflict. ~ Sam Keen

We seem to do little more than lurch between wanting and not wanting. Thus, the question naturally arises: Is there more to life than this? Might it be possible to feel much better (in every sense of better) than one tends to feel? Is it possible to find lasting fulfillment despite the inevitability of change? ~ Sam Harris

Religious moderation is the product of secular knowledge and scriptural ignorance. ~ Sam Harris

fiction, no matter the form, allows you to live a thousand meaningful experiences and relationships that you could never have in real life. Getting invested in a fictional world means you have a wonderful imagination, a big heart, and the capacity for endless creativity. No one can say anything bad about that. ~ Sam Maggs

Patriots is quite simple; there's seven continents in the world, if you had to sacrifice one continent and make it six would you do it? ~ Sam Worthington

Actually, I've never thought myself as being a particularly hard worker. I've always worked, and I guess my mind is busy all the time. I've been in a lot of things just because of my own intellectual curiosity. ~ Sam Wyly

Nature has no cure for this sort of madness, though I have known a legacy from a rich relative work wonders. ~ Sam Smith

Honey bear," the unicorn said. "You are the gayest thing I've seen since I last saw my own reflection. ~ T.J. Klune

I took on cancer like I take on everything - like a mission and a job to accomplish. ~ Sam Taylor-Johnson

We opened one, store number 8 in Morrilton, Arkansas, that was really a sight. We rented this old Coca-Cola bottling plant. It was all broken up into five rooms, and we bought some old fixtures from a failing Gibson's store for $3,000. We hung them by baling wire from the ceiling. We had clothes hanging in layers on conduit pipe all the way to the ceiling, and shelves wired into the walls. But this was really a small, small town, so number 8 was another experiment. We ~ Sam Walton

'Tis a strange thing, Sam, that among us people can't agree the whole week, because they go different ways upon Sundays. ~ George Farquhar

It was kind of exciting being on the radio. Not everybody was on the radio. ~ Sam Donaldson

FUCK YOU, SAM I AM! ~ Tara Sivec

I think it's every actor's dream to play a character that's really odd, and you know no one wants to play himself. ~ Sam Claflin

Isn't is good to know that your needs for peace of mind are met? ~ Anyaele Sam Chiyson

To not believe in God is to know that it falls to us to make the world a better place. ~ Sam Harris

Sam and I had lived together for many months at this point, and I thought I'd gotten to know her pretty well. I realized I was wrong after watching her dance. I can't really describe it any better than that I felt like I was taking a peek at someone else's soul. Not much ever makes me feel like that. ~ Darren McKeeman

My favorite part of the whole filmmaking process is working with a fantastic cinematographer, a fantastic actor or actors, and then just creating emotions and stories. I get so excited by that. That's the part I'm utterly addicted to. ~ Sam Taylor-Johnson

Just try to be happy. Unhappiness starts with wanting to be happier. ~ Sam Levenson

Teenagers did not have, before rock 'n' roll and rhythm-and-blues - they did not have any type of music they could call their own once they got over 4 or 5 years old until they were well into their 20's and considered adults. ~ Sam Phillips

In recent years, even as the court has become an increasingly political body, the Senate is not focused on preserving any perceived ideological balance when Democrat presidents have appointed people to the court. ~ Sam Brownback

Most people believe that the Creator of the universe wrote (or dictated) one of their books. Unfortunately, there are many books that pretend to divine authorship, and each makes incompatible claims about how we all must live. ~ Sam Harris

Negative experiences can wire neurons together, too. ~ Sam Kean

If pain were all that mattered, it would be as important to protect the rabbits from the foxes as to protect the Jews from the Nazis."16 ~ Sam Harris

I'm not certain, but I have a little gypsy blood in me. And my mother always told me that her grandma could give someone the evil eye, and I'd better not cross her because she had some of that blood in her. Mother always believed that she could predict the future, and she had dreams that came true. ~ Sam Raimi

Big budgets don't necessarily give you big films. ~ Sam Neill

Sam seemed to have this old-fashioned notion that women needed to be protected. Some of the most devious people Griff had ever encountered had been female. He didn't share the sentiment. ~ Kady Cross

I was single-minded on what I wanted to do since I was like nine or ten. ~ Sam Elliott

No one calls me Sammy. My mother occasionally throws a "Samuel", but I am, and have always been, just Sam. Sammy is a name for five-year-olds and game show hosts and Shinny Happy People.
I am, definitely, not a Sammy ~ Melissa Keil

If I have to be typecast, I'd like it to be as Abraham Lincoln. ~ Sam Waterston

Often, I find, it is better to forget what you know, and to believe only what you can see with your own two eyes. ~ Sam Taylor

For the Phantom, there is only one girl. For Sam, there is only one horse. ~ Terri Farley

And you can only have 2 or 3 things everyday, because everything else will just come at you; you know fires in a day. ~ Sam Altman

No element gets people telling crazy stories like mercury does. People have told me tales about pharmacists waxing floors with mercury, mothers rubbing it into babies' skin to kill germs, and 10-year-olds coating dimes in it to make them shine, then blithely carrying them around in their pockets. ~ Sam Kean