Sonny Quotations

Grover Washington was my main influence, and when I went to college, I started listening to more of the jazz masters like Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley, and John Coltrane.

I met Sonny after (Blind Boy) Fuller died, and me and Sonny played in the streets like everybody else.

Sonny and another Hells Angel who was at the meeting thought they were beyond a little patch so they headed down to a local tattoo shop in Oakland and were the first to get the famous One Percent tattoos.

From then on in, me and Sonny started makin' records. My first records, Sonny was backin' me up. Sonny wasn't singin' natural at the time; he was singin' falsetto.

My hero when I was 14 was Sonny Liston. No matter what kinds of problems you were having with your parents or at school, whatever, Sonny Liston would go and knock guys out, and that made it all right.

If I said I would knock out Sonny Liston in 1 minute and 49 seconds of the first round, that would hurt the gate.

We faced some good guys in the finals, especially Sonny, because Ian is a high school All-American and strong. He's tough to beat, he can catch you any time. I thought Sonny wrestled very good match.

We decided she had to be there. He's home and doing better now after three or four days on machines that did his breathing for him. Now that she has found him, Sonny needs more time with him before he dies.

When I heard him, I thought, if he can do that and get away with it, I can do it too. (on Sonny Bono)

So many people got us through the loss. Certainly beginning with family on all sides, tremendous friends, Sonny's congressional friends -- they really held me up in a huge way. I had a handful of members of Congress at my house everyday after Sonny died for about a week. They were there with me. But mostly, I think my children ... the big thing that my kids needed ... to know was that they lost their dad and they needed (to know) mom was strong and mom would go on.

So many people got us through the loss, ... Certainly beginning with family on all sides, tremendous friends, Sonny's congressional friends -- they really held me up in a huge way. I had a handful of members of Congress at my house everyday after Sonny died for about a week. They were there with me. But mostly, I think my children ... the big thing that my kids needed ... to know was that they lost their dad and they needed (to know) mom was strong and mom would go on.

I have an old picture of Sonny Til and the second tenor from the Orioles outside the Earle Theatre. It was such an atmospheric picture, I dragged my girlfriend around town on a bit of a pilgrimage until I finally found it. That was one of my coolest moments so far.

I will be carrying on the way Sonny did. Whatever happens, happens.

When Sonny came to Congress, I looked at him as just another Hollywood politician, ... Working together on the Judiciary Committee, I came to admire and respect him.

We are incredibly disappointed that Sonny has decided to step down from the international stage and made every effort to dissuade him from doing so.

When I got here the lounges were the thing. That's how Las Vegas got to be Entertainment Capitol of the World. The first lounge act I saw in Las Vegas was Freddie Bell and Sonny King at the Sands.

The project that I did between 'Boxer & Saints' was 'The Shadow Hero,' which is illustrated by Sonny Liew, an artist who lives in Singapore.

We were very, very close. Sonny and I have known each other for over 52 years. I'm all shook up about this. He was a sweetheart, a very strong person and a great performer.

UC had not narrowed it down to the Central Valley yet, and guys from Redding to Chula Vista were promoting their cities. I remember Sonny Bono promoting Palm Springs.

We put Sonny in positions last year I would never want to put a first-year quarterback. We threw 51 times against Maine, and he threw for 415 yards that day. We didn't have the same running game we had the year before or we'll have this year.

The governor's HOPE amendment is designed to keep the Democrats from spending lottery dollars on things other than HOPE and pre-K, which is what they did before Sonny Perdue was governor.

Don used to watch our practices. I never had the chance to throw Sonny Crockett a pass. Then again, he never had to bust me, either.

I've been very pleased with what Sonny has done. He has really worked to make himself a good player. I think it shows up not just in practices but also in games.

Sonny was touched and was bawling like a baby. When I saw him, I just burst into tears.

Sonny was a no-frills kind of guy. He shot straight from the shoulder. You knew exactly where you stood with him.

Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself, how it's strange that some rooms are like cages, Sonny's yearbook from high school is down from the shelf and he idoly thumbs through the pages. Some have died, some have fled from themselves, or struggled from here to get there. Sonny wonders beyond his interior walls, runs his hands through his thining brown hair.

Sonny has certainly accomplished a lot placing in four national tournaments. But the weight is so loaded, any little mistake on his part and he's in trouble.

Sonny and his wife and our family really hit off. We really enjoyed each other's company.

says Stanley Crouch, the writer who long urged Rollins to trust Smith. ''It actually creates a kind of a reevaluation of what we consider musical creativity. When you hear this, these chumps in hip-hop and rock, they're jokes compared to Sonny Rollins.

It's a sad day for everybody and I think for the country when we lose somebody who's as serious about legislation as Sonny Bono. A lot of people used to poke fun at him and maybe didn't think he was serious as a congressman here in Washington but he did a great job and we're going to miss him.

It's a dramatic shift for my character. He has put away the hatred for his brother - the sibling rivalry, the envy. At the core of him is respect for what he knows Sonny to be, and the subtext that he can save his brother.

I told him that I don't think I'm ready, but the big thing he and coach Conley and Sonny all said was, without me attending and playing, that I won't know where I stand. If anything, it'll be a learning experience to see what I have to work on.

The best compliment came from Knopf's Sonny Mehta. We were at lunch in New York with my editor, Gary Fisketjon, it was my first time meeting Sonny, and after ordering our food, he turned to me and said, 'Adam, I read 'Mr. Peanut' in two days; every page surprised me, and that, I can assure you, doesn't happen often.'

I'm looking forward to playing Sonny Weems. They say he can score from everywhere.

I never had a dime to my name before I became a fighter. I never had friends before, or respect. Now when people see me on the street, they turn around and say, "Ain't that Sonny Liston, the fighter?

He's a proud Kiwi. Above everything else, Sonny Bill just wants to play football.