Top 44 Chuck Berry Quotes

That’s all there was in our house: poetry and choir rehearsal and duets and so forth; I listened to Dad and Mother discuss things about poetry and delivery and voice and diction – I don’t think anyone could know how much it really means.

The first thing I heard was spiritual music, which was imbedded. The second thing I heard was swing. And shortly, along with that, I began to hear the blues. And then I began to hear Latin music. Each one left its mark.

That’s the misconceptions that people have, that Chuck Berry went to jail. They’re just totally wrong. It might have said something in the large papers in the bigger city headlines and things. But, you take a look at any of the local papers, and you will see that I was acquitted. I never went to jail.

My first job at Gleason’s Bar in Cleveland was $800 a week, when I was making $92 a week with overtime at the automobile plant.

Music is science. Everything is science. Because science is truth.

I always want to play the songs that people want to hear.

If I wasn’t a musician, I’d take up the law. They are the rottenest, wealthiest people in America.

Listening to Nat Cole prompted me to sing sentimental songs with distinct diction.

I just feel I got my inspiration, education and all from others that came before me. And I added my… I don’t even know if I added anything. I played what they played, and it sounded different, I guess.

I would sing the blues if I had the blues.

I have lots of ambition!

Had I been pushed like Colonel Parker pushed Elvis, had I been a white boy like Elvis, sure, it would have been different.

My singing days have passed. My voice is gone. My throat is worn. And my lungs are going fast.

It’s amazing how much you can learn if your intentions are truly earnest.

Music should be made to make people forget their problems, if only for a short while.

The Big Band Era is my era. People say, ‘Where did you get your style from?’ I did the Big Band Era on guitar. That’s the best way I could explain it.

In a Toyota, the cops don’t think about stopping you so much.

The music played most around St. Louis was country-western and swing. Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of the country stuff on our predominantly black audience. After they laughed at me a few times, they began requesting the hillbilly stuff.

There has been a great laziness in my soul. Lots of days I could write songs, but I could also take my $400 and play the slot machines at the riverfront casino.

I eat meat daily. I’m not Jewish. I’m not Arabic. What’s the kind of person that doesn’t eat meat? That’s right – I’m not a vegetarian.

If you’re going to be mad, at least let the people know what you’re mad about.

The world has done nothing to me that I haven’t done with the world.

I used to work at Kroger’s. When the store opened, you were there. When I worked in an automobile plant, you punched in. So it showed if you were a minute late. If you have a paid job, you show up.

Rather than have joy, I would rather be absent of pain.

I’m thankful for each and every day. We never know when time is up.

You don’t just go to the studio and say, ‘I’m going to write a hit.’ It becomes a hit when people like your compositions.

A song is a song. But there are some songs, ah, some songs are the greatest. The Beatles song ‘Yesterday.’ Listen to the lyrics.

The Rolling Stones… The Rolling Stones have a reflection to my music; I wouldn’t deny it. I think that’s honest.

I think my interviews were much better than what some of the writers wrote. I just wanted the truth out.

Of the five most important things in life, health is first, education or knowledge is second, and wealth is third. I forget the other two.

It’s not me to toot my horn. The minute you toot your horn, it seems like society will try and disconnect your battery. And if you do not toot your horn, they’ll try their darnedest to give you a horn to toot, or say that you should have a horn.

I love poetry. I love rhyming. Do you know, there are poets who don’t rhyme? Shakespeare did not rhyme most of the time, and that’s why I do not like him.

The media dresses things up. There’s a lot of inaccuracy.

I didn’t connect with the kids. I was in the studio. I never saw the kids. I hoped they liked it, of course. And then I’d go write some more. And then I’d go buy me a home. Very American.

I’m thankful for performing as long as I am allowed.

Praise doesn’t mean anything to me. I don’t judge myself.

People don’t want to see 17 pieces in neckties. They wanna see some jeans, some gettin’ down, and some wigglin’.

It amazes me when I hear people say, ‘I want to go out and find out who I am.’ I always knew who I was. I was going to be famous if it killed me.

There had to be a market in order for you to be successful in a business. The market had to need your business, or the product of it.

If the people in the audience are talking, you’re being ignored. If the people are gazing at you, you’ve got something they want to hear.

Don’t let the same dog bite you twice.

Chuck Berry doesn’t give interviews.

I grew up thinking art was pictures until I got into music and found I was an artist and didn’t paint.

People said I was king, but I was never king, and I say I’m the prime minister.