Berry Gordy Quotes

• Don’t judge yourself by others’ standards…have your own. And don’t get caught up into the trap of changing yourself to fit the world. The world has to change to fit you. And if you stick to your principles, values and morals long enough, it will.

  Berry Gordy

  Change, Long, Judging

  83 Copy quote

• I have this ability to find this hidden talent in people that sometimes even they didn't know they had.

  Berry Gordy

  People, African American, Aptitude

  81 Copy quote

• Motown was about music for all people – white and black, blue and green, cops and the robbers. I was reluctant to have our music alienate anyone.

  Berry Gordy

  Blue, White, People

  57 Copy quote

• Every day I watched how a bare metal frame, rolling down the line would come off the other end, a spanking brand new car. What a great idea! Maybe, I could do the same thing with my music. Create a place where a kid off the street could walk in one door, an unknown, go through a process, and come out another door, a star.

  Berry Gordy

  Stars, Kids, Doors

  59 Copy quote

• Money had never been the main thing for me. It's the legacy that was important.

  Berry Gordy

  Important, Legacy, Music Business

  62 Copy quote

• There aren’t enough people who care about the future. They are too busy worrying about today and what they can grab now

  Berry Gordy

  People, Worry, Who Cares

  42 Copy quote

• Michael Jackson was not an artist who comes along once in a decade, a generation, or a lifetime. He was an artist who comes along only once, period… He raised the bar and then BROKE the bar!

  Berry Gordy

  Artist, Generations, Bars

  25 Copy quote

• I didn't want to be a big record mogul and all that stuff. I just wanted to write songs and make people laugh.

  Berry Gordy

  Song, Writing, People

  16 Copy quote

• I've discovered that Motown and Broadway have a lot in common - a family of wonderfully talented, passionate, hardworking young people, fiercely competitive but also full of love and appreciation for the work, for each other and for the people in the audience.

  Berry Gordy

  Appreciation, People, Passionate

  20 Copy quote

• I'm a songwriter, that's what I love.

  Berry Gordy

  Songwriters

  10 Copy quote

• The whole purpose of writing a book is to be understood - if other people write about you, they try to guess why you did things, or they hear things from other people.

  Berry Gordy

  Book, Writing, People

  12 Copy quote

• It's like losing a son because I loved Michael and Michael loved me. But you know, as when people grow up and they make their own decisions and they move forward, there's a distance, and I think that Michael in some cases might have gone too far with some of the things he was doing.

  Berry Gordy

  Growing Up, Distance, Moving

  "Motown's Gordy On Michael Jackson". "Weekend Edition Saturday" with Scott Simon, www.npr.org. June 27, 2009.

  15 Copy quote

• His [Michael Jackson] behavior was weird, but when you get an artist and a genius, many of the geniuses throughout our whole history were weird. And they did weird things because none of us could understand what was on their mind and why they did what they did.

  Berry Gordy

  Artist, Mind, Genius

  Source: www.npr.org

  14 Copy quote

• All artists have runners, people that tell them what to do, business managers, lawyers, these - if they get the right ones, they're lucky, and if they get the wrong ones, they're unlucky.

  Berry Gordy

  Artist, People, Lucky

  Source: www.npr.org

  10 Copy quote

• But once I saw them [Jackson 5 during audition], I rushed out with my video camera to start taping them because I knew that they were something so special, mainly because of the lead singer, nine-year-old Michael Jackson. And it was just so obvious to me that he was a star.

  Berry Gordy

  Stars, Years, Special

  Source: www.npr.org

  11 Copy quote

• Today's business climate is not for me.

  Berry Gordy

  Climate, Today

  10 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Smokey Robinson

Diana Ross

Marvin Gaye

Michael Jackson

Lionel Richie

Stevie Wonder

David Ruffin

Jermaine Jackson