All art is holy. Not that it is all long-faced and miserable; it can be wild and wooly. But if it transforms you, it is art. And it is holy.

Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it.

There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity.

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

I cannot imagine any boy of spirit who would not be delighted to play a drunkard even to vomiting in front of his Sunday school. Indeed, the vomiting might be the chief attraction of the role.

The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past.

A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.

A man must be obedient to the promptings of his innermost heart.

Art is wine and experience is the brandy we distill from it.

Conversation in its true meaning isn't all wagging the tongue; sometimes it is a deeply shared silence.

The dog is a yes-animal. Very popular with people who can't afford a yes man.

Every father and mother who struggle and earn honestly to nurture his children, is also soldier.

The existence of tricks does not imply the absence of magic.

Normality is a fine ideal for those who have no imagination.

Count Basie was college, but Duke Ellington was graduate school.

I've been through Hell with some of the members of my old band, and Hell is highly stressful.

Out of all the artistic things I do, music is the most rewarding because it's so hard to write songs.

When the Way is lost there is virtue. When virtue is lost there is benevolence. When benevolence is lost there is righteousness. When righteousness is lost there are rituals.

... Don't mistake any of this for altruism...Fear and greed just doesn't work. If you want to be successful, quality and service just works better.

There was a time where I thought I could only date vegans. I was wrong because I was missing the fact that somebody should be right for me first, instead of just having similar values.

You know what, I'm stoned, and I'm proud.