You don’t see me in the club. And the reason is because I would rather be in the studio mixing these musical potions. Now sometimes they blow up in my face, and there’s a lot of smoke. But that’s who I am. Music is what I do. – R. Kelly
I’m not gonna be broke, like my mom was broke, my uncles were broke, my sisters didn’t have money, my cousins on down. – R. Kelly
When I was performing on streets, there was no pressure. People accepted me. They loved me without knowing me. – R. Kelly
You know, I’m no different from a fireman. You got to run into a fire no matter how big the blaze is. – R. Kelly
My whole goal in life was to reach that certain success where people will say, ‘Hey, that guy can do anything. He’s the Evel Knievel of music. He’s jumping over 15 buses!’ – R. Kelly
I started to wear the sunglasses all the time at school, hiding behind them… I’d walk down the hallways, practically hugging the wall, dragging my head against it like I was crazy. – R. Kelly
Being single has its ups and downs, and being in a relationship has its ups and downs. It depends on how you balance it and how you handle your problems within your relationship. – R. Kelly
When you go to church, if the pastor at some point doesn’t make you laugh, he probably ain’t gonna make you join. – R. Kelly
I have always been infatuated with country music. Country music tells stories, and I’ve always loved to tell stories. I said that when I establish myself as an artist that can do pretty much anything I want to do in music, I’m going to make a country album. – R. Kelly
Love has never failed. It has won every battle. And today and forever more it will go on undefeated. I’m also a very loving person. – R. Kelly
No matter how much money I make, no matter how many hit songs. I still perform like a street performer. – R. Kelly
My music has shaken hands with the world somehow – it’s a beautiful disease, and I’m glad I got it. – R. Kelly
In my life, I wanted to feel tall. I wanted to be somebody. I wanted to be tall as the Sears Tower. I wanted to be on top of the Sears Tower. I wanted to be as strong as the Sears Tower feels. – R. Kelly
All the sounds on ‘Trapped in the Closet’ – the knockin’ on the door, when I grab the keys, when I walk down the stairs, the car horns – we sampled all of those things around my house. – R. Kelly
I’m the Ali of today. I’m the Marvin Gaye of today. I’m the Bob Marley of today. I’m the Martin Luther King, or all the other greats that have come before us. And a lot of people are starting to realise that now. – R. Kelly
In life, you have people that love to party. That’s me. People that love God. That’s me. People that love sex. That’s me. People that love people. That’s me. And people that make mistakes. That’s me also. – R. Kelly
If I could change anything, I would definitely have had a father around. My father. I would definitely say it affected me deeply as a young man, coming up. Who doesn’t want a father? Those are the beginnings, and those are what can dictate the roads you choose in life, and choosing them well. – R. Kelly
I’ve heard people have written books of me. People don’t even know me, but they’ve written a book on me. You ever heard of hearing it from the horse’s mouth? I’m the horse. – R. Kelly
When I met Michael Jordan on a basketball court at an athletic club – we hooped together in Chicago – he came to me and asked me if I wanted to do a song for his upcoming movie. I was like, ‘Yeah!’ I didn’t even ask what it was. – R. Kelly
You know, I love plays. I love the smell of a theater. The old rooms and the carpet and all that stuff. I love to tell stories. Even before I was doing music, I saw myself as a director. – R. Kelly
If there’s no fire, there’s no scream. If there’s no scream, then no one hears you and no one comes to help you in the first place. The depth of my struggle has definitely determined the height of my success. To be able to teach my kids not just about success but about the struggle that comes with it. – R. Kelly
When I first came in the business, I had a couple of close calls on planes going to London for shows. There was one time where the plane had to fly around until a storm ended, and then we started having a question about fuel, so we had to go through the storm. It was the worst thing that ever happened in my life. That really messed me up. – R. Kelly
Everywhere I go, from malls to restaurants to sold-out tours overseas and back, everywhere I’ve been, I get nothing but love. – R. Kelly
My mother always told me if you write about life, you will always be in the game. Just don’t write songs… write life. I decided to take her up on that. – R. Kelly
‘Love Letter’ is a concept album, and whenever I do a concept album – and I love doing concept albums more than any other kind of album – it allows me to get dressed, in a way, musically. – R. Kelly