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Creativity Quote by Barry White

"I went to jail at 16 for stealing tires off Cadillacs. When I got out I said, Never again"

About this Quote

It lands like a confession delivered in a bass register: blunt, specific, and built to sound inevitable. Barry White doesn’t dress the story up as gritty mythology or a redemption-brand testimonial. He gives you the tactile detail - tires off Cadillacs - a crime with a particular sheen. Cadillacs aren’t just cars; they’re rolling symbols of American arrival. Stealing from them reads as both hustling and aspirational trespass, a kid trying to touch luxury from the outside.

The pivot is the cleanest possible moral arc: “When I got out I said, Never again.” No courtroom sermon, no elaborate self-analysis. The power is in its compression. White’s future persona - the velvet voice, the orchestral seducer, the guy who made romance sound like a slow-moving limousine - depends on control, patience, and polish. Jail represents the opposite: chaos, consequence, being trapped in a narrative you didn’t write. “Never again” is less about virtue than authorship. It’s the moment he decides to stop being acted upon and start curating a life.

Context matters: mid-century Black Los Angeles offered plenty of spectacle and very few safe ladders. White’s line quietly acknowledges how close the routes to fame and ruin can run. He’s not asking for absolution; he’s sketching the origin of discipline. The subtext is entrepreneurial: if you want the Cadillac, don’t steal the tires - build the engine that makes people hand you the keys.

Quote Details

TopicLearning from Mistakes
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
White, Barry. (2026, January 16). I went to jail at 16 for stealing tires off Cadillacs. When I got out I said, Never again. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-went-to-jail-at-16-for-stealing-tires-off-131826/

Chicago Style
White, Barry. "I went to jail at 16 for stealing tires off Cadillacs. When I got out I said, Never again." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-went-to-jail-at-16-for-stealing-tires-off-131826/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I went to jail at 16 for stealing tires off Cadillacs. When I got out I said, Never again." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-went-to-jail-at-16-for-stealing-tires-off-131826/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

Barry White

Barry White (September 12, 1944 - July 4, 2003) was a Musician from USA.

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