Quotes from Little Richard

I am the architect of rock n' roll. I have to be a fan of all its forms.

Elvis may be the King of Rock and Roll, but I am the Queen.

I'm very much a gentleman in what I do.

I think they saw me as something like a deliverer, a way out. My means of expression, my music, was a way in which a lot of people wished they could express themselves and couldn't.

Gay people are the sweetest, kindest, most artistic, warmest and most thoughtful people in the world. And since the beginning of time all they've ever been is kicked.

Now they have banging guitar and no bass and call it rock, but that's not what I call rock.

Elvis was God-given, there's no other explanation. A Messiah comes around every few thousand years, and Elvis was it this time.

I also like the banging piano - that old good-time piano.

I would wear flamboyant clothes and long hair, and most singers at the time didn't.

And I'd like to give my love to everybody, and let them know that the grass may look greener on the other side, but believe me, it's just as hard to cut.

It's hard to have a friend when your name's a household word.

Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul.

I also think that what's wrong with all of us is that we don't show enough love toward each other.

I decided to come back and teach goodness in this business. To teach love, because music is the universal language. We are God's bouquet, and through music we become one.

I love God, and I'm a follower.

I was really kind of shy as a child. But I would do things for attention.

Black people lived right by the railroad tracks, and the train would shake their houses at night. I would hear it as a boy, and I thought: I'm gonna make a song that sounds like that.

But I'm a rock 'n' roll singer; that's my livelihood, my occupation.

But I was singing loud, and most singers weren't singing loud.

Some situations you cause yourself.

Plus I love Tanya Tucker and I love country music.

I let people know that it was all right to do the kinds of things I did.

Rock 'n' roll offered me a platform to speak what I felt. It also offered me a platform to support my mama and my brothers and sisters - twelve children.

I've never gotten money from most of those records. And I made those records: In the studio, they'd just give me a bunch of words, I'd make up a song! The rhythm and everything. 'Good Golly Miss Molly'! And I didn't get a dime for it.