[last title card] Title card: As celebrated as he became, he never forgot his roots, contributing over $20 million to African-American Colleges and charities for the blind and deaf. Title card: Ray kept his promise. He never touched heroin again.
Ray Charles: That's Diz. Emanon! Quincy Jones: Yeah, but what's it spell backwards? Ray Charles: Come on man, why don't you give me something difficult? "No name." Quincy Jones: Say, daddy-o, what axe you play? Ray Charles: Uh, piano. Just blew in fr...
Della Bea Robinson: Let me call you a cab. Ray Charles: I got it. Three blocks up, left for two, right for one, fifteen giant steps and I'm at the Crystal White Hotel. Hello!
Ray Charles: Man, you told me if I think pennies, I get pennies. I'm thinking dollars, man.
Jerry Wexler: Ruth Brown's got a tour booked in Georgia. She needs a band. Ray Charles: I'll take it. I could write the charts for her, I could do backup, and I could also be an opening act. Ahmet Ertegun: Okay. But you're gonna be financially respon...
Jerry Wexler: [Listening to Ray perform "I Got a Woman"] Ahmet. Ahmet Ertegun: Yeah? Jerry Wexler: We gotta get this on wax. Ahmet Ertegun: Oh, yeah.
Della Bea Robinson: I'm having second thoughts about this. I don't know nobody in L.A. Ray Charles: Look, Bea, I don't want my kids growing up in the South. Now L.A. is where, you know, a Negro can spread his wings and fly. Della Bea Robinson: Ray, m...
Della Bea Robinson: The only thing that can help you is God, Ray! Ray Charles: Don't you talk about God! You have any idea how it feels to go blind and still be afraid of the dark? And every day, you stand and pray just for a little light, and you do...
Joe Adams: You don't have to talk to Ray, you're talking to me. Fathead Newman: I'll talk to whoever I damn well please and it sure as hell ain't you.
Ray Charles: I love the stories. You know, about fallin' in love, and having love knock you around, and then the pressures of the world on you so tough it makes you feel small. You just want to give your soul to God. You might as well, your ass belon...
Ray Charles: If I feel the music, that means it's real. Quincy Jones: No, it ain't. Ray Charles is a sell-out. The blind Liberace, leaving those Rocking Chair roots behind.
Ray Charles: From now on you guys are gonna be called the Raylettes. Margie Hendricks: Does that mean we have to "let Ray"?
[as Ray is going blind] Aretha Robinson: I'll show you how to do something once, I'll help you if you mess up twice, but the third time you're on your own. 'Cause that's how it is in the world.
Aretha Robinson, Ray Charles: Scratch a lie, find a thief.
[Della Bea has just discovered Ray's drug problem] Della Bea Robinson: That stuff kills people, Ray. Now you've gotta stop it. Ray Charles: I don't have to do a *goddamn* thing!
Marlene: [speaking suggestively to Ray] I've got some more blackberry cobbler for you!
Ray Charles: I want you to promise me something. Promise you won't feel sorry for me just because I'm blind. Della Bea Robinson: How can I pity someone I admire?
Gossie McKee: Look, Ray! Ray! We can make a new deal; whatever'd make you happy! Ray Charles: The deal is *you* can "lay the pipe" now!
