An artist should write for himself & not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

'Swing' is an adjective or a verb, not a noun. All jazz musicians should swing. There is no such thing as a 'swing band' in music.

If you don’t see the wonder in the most ordinary phenomenon, you’re not going to resonate very much.

If you wanna dance, a windshield wiper'll do it-all you need is a beat.

I did all you can do with a clarinet. Any more would have been less.

Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijiana, and will expire on cocaine.

You have no idea of the women I didn't marry.

An audience is in many respects no more than a mob under loose control.

The good old days are neither better nor worse than the ones we're living through right now.

An entertainer pleases others while an artist only has to please himself.

Somebody asked me once, 'Do you think that swing will ever come back?' And I said, 'Do you think the 1938 Ford will ever come back?'

I angle my head down and peer up at him through my lashes in what I hope is an alluring manner. I have zero experience in this area though, so it’s possible I look like a total moron.

A complainer rarely succeeds

As soon as we conform anything to language, we’ve changed it. Use a word and you’ve altered the world. The poets know this. It’s what they try so hard to avoid.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Never trust anyone who tells you how people come to trust him.

As long as you keep your mind fully focused on the brighter side of your life, those who wish for your downfall, would only be wasting their time and energy in vain.

But I said that you could still want something that is very unlikely to happen.

For your information, I do love you. Although at times like this I have to wonder why.

The myths have always condemned those who 'looked back.' Condemned them, whatever the paradise may have been which they were leaving. Hence this shadow over each departure from your decision.

I look to the women who epitomize old Hollywood glamour, like Rita Hayworth. She had a way of making sophisticated clothes look sexy without ever seeming sleazy or cheap.

People have no clue that they’re in prison, they don’t know that there is an ego, they don’t know the distinction.