Charles Bradley Quotes

That's something that I learned when I was homeless. Hotels are awesome because they are going to let you in and you can use the bathroom and when you're young and pretty you can probably use the pool. Somebody might by you a drink.

My folks kicked me out of the crib, so I was homeless, living out the whip.

I always wanted to experience the street life because my teenage life in Aberdeen was so boring. But I was never really independent enough to do it. I applied for food stamps, lived under the bridge, and built a fort at the cedar mill.

I was able to do The Saint of Fort Washington, on the relationship between two homeless men.

I was raised on the streets, in hot, steamy Brooklyn, with stifled air.

I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends' floors, was happy, was miserable.

At 13, when I was a runaway, I was taken in by the most amazing drag queens in Portland, Ore. We didn't always know where our next meal was coming from, but there was so much camaraderie and love. Not to mention, those girls could paint a face, and I learned how because of them.

Statistically, Portland, Oregon has the most street kids, like kids that run away from home and live on the street. It's like a whole culture thing there. If you walk around on the streets, there are kids living on the streets, begging for money, but it's almost like a cool thing. They all just sit around and play music and squat.

I realized eventually that when I ran out of places to stay and found myself on the D train and in Central Park, I was actually homeless.

I was in the streets at eight, nine years old.

My dad was a street kid for seven years - he was homeless.

I would hang out with my friends, and they would make me sing in exchange for food. I'd tag along just so I could eat. Then we would go to the park, and I'd sleep there with other homeless kids.

I felt like I was homeless anyway, so the change in environment wasn't that much of a big deal. I felt pretty much the same. After six months of living on the streets [in Camden], I started singing, busking.

Kids have to be tough to survive on the streets of Kathmandu, where older gang members often beat and rob them. They face cold winters, hunger, homelessness, and unsympathetic police. But under each hardened shell there is still a child.

Nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street.

I've been so transient, I've been on my own since I was 16. I didn't even have my own place until I was 32 years old. I literally lived out of bags for 16-plus years.

There is quite a large clan of Scotties among American beggars. He is a good beggar for the simple reason that he is a good talker. Almost every Scotch beggar I met in the States of America was inclined to be talkative, and yet they all managed to conceal their private affairs.

You grow up as an artist in a big city. As James Dean said, you're going to have one arm tied behind your back if you don't accept people's sexual flavors. You know, when I was a kid out here in L.A., I was homeless; I didn't have any money, and I was living in my car. I was 18.

I basically live out of my truck - I mean from place to place. I feel more at home in my truck than just about anywhere, which is a sad thing to say, but it's true.

I had very few friends. There was nobody I could trust. I left home when I was fifteen. I lived in Washington Square Park.

Being homeless is like living in a post-apocalyptic world. You're on the outskirts of society.

For many impoverished people, living under a tarp or in a cardboard box is a way of life.

I lived in the streets for three years when I was a kid, and every day, I didn't know where my next meal would come from.

I grew up in Compton: 116th and Wilmington.

Besides being a slum kid with no great education in anything except how to fight and stay alive and steal, I also had this temper.