I was already singing by the time I was six years old. My neighbors would ask me to sing at festivities—marriages, baptisms, etc.—and they would give me presents. In 1973 [when I was 15], I went to the Institute for the Young Blind in Mali to learn Braille. When I was there I taught other people how to sing and dance.

What evil is there in seeing a man possess a woman? Why, the beasts would be more free than we! It seems to me that that which is given us by nature for our own preservation ought to be worn round the neck as a pendant and in the hat for a medal.

Love is a feeling,
Give it when I want it,
'Cause I'm on fire,
Quench my desire,
Love is a woman,
I don't want to give in,
Give in to me, give in to me.

I would like to give a piece of advice to politicians including Dr Yunus, to get the love of the people of this country, you have to be an enemy of India. The more the party that is tougher against India, the more popular that party will become. So the decision is yours.

Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoon to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoon, who gives us this assurance.

God, the Great Giver, can open the whole universe to our gaze in the narrow space of a single land.

When the Seasons' changes thus confront the mind
What comfort can the Doctrine of Tao give?
It will teach me to watch the days and months fly
Without grieving that Youth slips away;
If the Fleeting World is but a long dream,
It does not matter whether one is young or old.

This cricket is like a burger, you can have it once a week but for a whole meal, you need to return to Test cricket. More than once a week, and it will give you a tummy ache.

People thought I was ruthless, which I was. I didn't give a darn who was on the other side of the net. I'd knock you down if you got in my way.

I have one underlying principle in mind: the principle of Muslim democracy. It is my belief that our salvation lies in following the golden rules of conduct set for us by our great lawgiver, the Prophet of Islam.

[Kneels before the shrine] Lord of the blue sky, great Tengri. I bow before you. Give me the strength.

We were talking briefly about cocaine...yeah. Anything that makes you paranoid and impotent, give me more of that!

an intellectual concept abstracts from everything sensuous, it is not abstracted from sensuous things, and perhaps would be more correctly called abstracting than abstract. Intellectual concepts it is more cautious, therefore, to call pure ideas, and concepts given only empirically, abstract ideas.

Son, son, son... now you give me the answer". [Very joyful manner]

Knowledge is partial, because our intellect is an instrument, it is only a part of us, it can give us information about things which can be divided and analysed, and whose properties can be classified part by part. But Brahma is perfect, and knowledge which is partial can never be a knowledge of him.

I can't keep up with your turning tables
Under your thumb, I can't breathe.I won't let you close enough to hurt me, no.
I won't ask you, you to just desert me.
I can't give you, what you think you gave me.
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables.