I never use that word, retire.

People all over the world have problems. And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.

I was born on a plantation, and things weren't so good. We didn't have any money. I never thought of the word 'poor' 'til I got to be a man, but when you live in a house that you can always peek out of and see what kind of day it is, you're not doing so well. And your rest room is not inside the house.

I call myself a blues singer, but you ain't never heard me call myself a blues guitar man.

I never met a woman I didn't like. I love 'em all, in their different ways.

I've said that playing the blues is like having to be black twice. Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts, but I never noticed.