Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine.

There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit Number2- Never forget rule number 1.

Music, of course, is what I hear and something that I more or less live by. It's not an occupation or profession, it's a compulsion.

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.

The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.

If you have a great band with a mediocre drummer, you have a mediocre band. If you have a mediocre band with a great drummer, you have a great band!

Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.

You have to stop listening in categories. The music is either good or it's bad.

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.

Never try to outgrow the people who were helping you walk, when you could not even walk.

Jonathan Swift made a soul for the gentlemen of this city by hating his neighbor as himself.

For any scientist the real challenge is not to stay within the secure garden of the known but to venture out into the wilds of the unknown.

The very best financial presentation is one that's well thought out and anticipates any questions... answering them in advance.

As a guiding principle, life shrinks and life expands in direct proportion to your willingness to assume risk.

Character, I think, is the single most important thing in fiction. You might read a book once for its interesting plot—but not twice.

Man's greatest drive is not love or hate but to change another person's writing.

Fish are not the best authority on water.

All big changes of the world come from words.

You can't be striving to please; you must be striving to get to the heart of the matter.