Marvin Gaye was a Motown soul singer and songwriter in the 1960s and 1970s known for his exceptional singing and songwriting abilities.
Born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. on April 2, 1939 in Washington D.C. he found refuge in music from an early age.
After serving in the U.S. Air Force Gaye immersed himself in the music scene eventually signing with Motown’s subsidiary Tamla.
His early career saw a mix of musical styles eventually resulting in classics like “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” “What’s Going On” and “Sexual Healing.”
Gaye’s music evolved with the times from the Motown sound of the ’60s to soul funk and quiet storm in the ’70s.
His life however was marked by personal struggles culminating in his tragic murder by his father in 1984.
Despite his early death Gaye’s legacy as a touchstone for soul and pop music continues to resonate.
Here are some of the popular quotes by Marvin Gaye.
Best Marvin Gaye Quotes
Live for life, but let live everybody. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Things ain’t what they used to be. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Negotiation means getting the best of your opponent. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Don’t you know how sweet and wonderful life can be? ~ Marvin Gaye.
Let’s save all the children, save the babies, save the babies. ~ Marvin Gaye.
To be an artist is a blessing and a privilege. ~ Marvin Gaye.
For me, love carries the seeds of its own destruction. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Art is a way of possessing destiny. ~ Marvin Gaye.
I think it’s a common vibrating tone of the musical notes that holds all life together. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Love your mother, she bore you. Love your father, he works for you. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Who isn’t fascinated by evil? ~ Marvin Gaye.
I hope to refine music, study it, try to find some area that I can unlock. I don’t quite know how to explain it but it’s there. ~ Marvin Gaye.
War is not the answer, because only love can conquer hate. ~ Marvin Gaye.
The body was small, but the spirit was intense and very evident to anyone who passed by or came in. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Inspirational Marvin Gaye Quotes
Detroit turned out to be heaven, but it also turned out to be hell. ~ Marvin Gaye.
If you escape from people too often, you wind up escaping from yourself. ~ Marvin Gaye.
I feel that people in Europe are different from Americans – I think your soul is a little deeper. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Marriage is miserable unless you find the right person that is your soulmate and that takes a lot of looking. ~ Marvin Gaye.
I want to stop and thank you baby, how sweet it is to be loved by you. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Jesus left a long time ago, said he would return. He left us a book to believe in, in it we’ve got an awful lot to learn. ~ Marvin Gaye.
I think if I had to choose another profession, I’d like to be a judge because I’m very capable of determining what’s right and what’s not. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Give out some love and you’ll find peace sublime. ~ Marvin Gaye.
I am not a star. At least, I don’t consider myself a star. ~ Marvin Gaye.
I don’t make records for pleasure. I did when I was a younger artist, but I don’t today. I record so that I can feed people what they need, what they feel. Hopefully, I record so that I can help someone overcome a bad time. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Top Marvin Gaye Quotes
“I’ve never had any problems with women. Having been one of the world’s greatest womanizers they’ve probably had more problems with me. ~ Marvin Gaye.
And givin’ yourself to me can never be wrong. ~ Marvin Gaye.
I sing about life. ~ Marvin Gaye.
If I do my job well, then God will smile on my offspring and on their offspring. I’m sure my father is seeing a blessing in me. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Little Willie John is the soul singer’s soul singer. ~ Marvin Gaye.
I’m hooked my friend to the boy who makes slaves out of men, and oh, believe me, flying high in a friendly sky. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Negotiating means getting the best of your opponent. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Get up, get up, get up, get up! ~ Marvin Gaye.
Sexual healing is good for me. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Take a look outside, it’s where the truth is really told. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Mercy, mercy me, things ain’t what they used to be. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Inspiring Marvin Gaye Quotes
Our church was a very spiritual church, and we were a very chosen people. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Don’t you know that there ain’t no mountain high enough. Ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough. To keep me from getting to you, baby. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Art is a way of possessing destiny. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Every chance you get you seem to hurt me more and more, but each hurt makes my love stronger than before. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Music is one of the closest link-ups with God that we can probably experience. ~ Marvin Gaye.
An artist, if he is truly an artist, is only interested in one thing and that is to wake up the minds of men, to have mankind and womankind realize that there is something greater than what we see on the surface. ~ Marvin Gaye.
What about this overcrowded land, How much more abuse from man can she stand? ~ Marvin Gaye.
If you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Don’t play with something you should cherish for life. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Politics and hypocrites is turning us all into lunatics. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Popular Marvin Gaye Quotes
I wish that being famous helped prevent me from being constipated. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Crime is increasing, trigger happy policing. Panic is spreading, God knows where we’re heading. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Anger destroys your soul. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Artists must look beneath the surface and show that there is more to this world than what meets the eye. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Natural fact is, I can’t pay my taxes. Make me wanna holler and throw up on my hands. ~ Marvin Gaye.
I am not going to be dictated to by fans, certainly. I am dictated enough to by my record company to last me a million years. ~ Marvin Gaye.
When I look at the world it fills me with sorrow, little children today are really going to suffer tomorrow. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Most fear stems from sin; to limit one’s sins, one must assuredly limit one’s fear, thereby bringing more peace to one’s spirit. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Famous Marvin Gaye Quotes
To share is precious, pure and fair. Don’t play with something you should cherish for life. Don’t you wanna care, ain’t it lonely out there? ~ Marvin Gaye.
God was very good to me as a child, and I’m a very blessed individual. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Great artists suffer for the people. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Artists must never betray their true hearts. ~ Marvin Gaye.
Who are they to judge us, simply because our hair is long? ~ Marvin Gaye.
My father has a great voice. My father used to sing… just sing. ~ Marvin Gaye.
So these were the 60 top Marvin Gaye quotes from the Prince of Motown and Prince of Soul.
If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Garth Brooks quotes and Marcus Luttrell quotes.
