Bonnie Raitt quotes

Bonnie Raitt is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist renowned for her soulful blend of blues, rock, and folk. Her slide guitar playing and heartfelt vocals have earned her multiple Grammy Awards and widespread acclaim. She continues to inspire generations of musicians with her artistry and activism. Here are 51 of her quotes:

Solar power is the last energy resource that isn't owned yet - nobody taxes the sun yet.

Bonnie Raitt

Distribution has really changed. You can make a record with a laptop in the morning and have it up on YouTube in the afternoon and be a star overnight. The talent on YouTube is incredible, and it can spread like wildfire. The downside is that it's very hard to convince the younger generation that they should pay for music.

Bonnie Raitt

I'm happy to say that at 62, I think I've reached that point where stuff doesn't bother me as much, and my gratitude level has gone way up, especially having gone through the loss that I've had, and losing so many of the great artists that I was close to. They taught me how to see it with a grain of salt and a lot of humor and perspective.

Bonnie Raitt

I'm certain that it was an incredible gift for me to not only be friends with some of the greatest blues people who've ever lived, but to learn how they played, how they sang, how they lived their lives, ran their marriages, and talked to their kids.

Bonnie Raitt

Religion is for people who are scared to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.

Bonnie Raitt

I think my fans will follow me into our combined old age. Real musicians and real fans stay together for a long, long time.

Bonnie Raitt

I think people must wonder how a white girl like me became a blues guitarist. The truth is, I never intended to do this for a living.

Bonnie Raitt

I would rather feel things in extreme than not at all.

Bonnie Raitt

The fifth member of my band is my non-profit work.

Bonnie Raitt

The consolidation of the music business has made it difficult to encourage styles like the blues, all of which deserve to be celebrated as part of our most treasured national resources.

Bonnie Raitt

Playing guitar was one of my childhood hobbies, and I had played a little at school and at camp. My parents would drag me out to perform for my family, like all parents do, but it was a hobby - nothing more.

Bonnie Raitt

In 1967 I entered Harvard as a freshman, confident - in the way that only 17-year-olds are - that I could change the world. My major was African Studies, and my plan was to travel to Tanzania, where President Julius Nyerere was creating a government based on democracy and socialism.

Bonnie Raitt

I'm not that beautiful, and I don't want to be a pop star.

Bonnie Raitt

I've been lucky enough that I can gather all sorts of experiences and find inspiration by traveling around and by spending time with people I admire.

Bonnie Raitt

In blues, classical and jazz, you get more revered with age.

Bonnie Raitt

I grew up in Los Angeles in a Quaker family, and for me being Quaker was a political calling rather than a religious one.

Bonnie Raitt

Quakers are known for wanting to give back. Ban the bomb and the civil rights movement and the native American struggle for justice - those things were very, very front-burner in my childhood, as were the ideas of working for peace and if you have more than you need, then you share it with people who don't.

Bonnie Raitt

The anti-nuke movement has important and far-reaching implications for grassroots organizing. It can unite kids and musicians, everybody, whether they're leftist or rightist, or radical, or Republican, because energy is energy. But in fact, it is a real political struggle - it shows people that it's big business against the people.

Bonnie Raitt

My love was Bob Dylan, but as I got older I realized a good ballad was a good ballad.

Bonnie Raitt

It is still a surprise when people tell me that I've had an influence on them, particularly when it's someone I really respect.

Bonnie Raitt

I like to think I get better with age, but maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Bonnie Raitt

I think we have responsibilities to be active in the things we believe in, regardless of what our job is. At least in my lifetime, there has been a tremendous combining of activism and music, that came up in the era of Pete Seeger and the Weavers and Joan Baez and Bob Dylan and Peter Paul & Mary.

Bonnie Raitt