Do not lose your enthusiasm. In its Greek etymology, the word enthusiasm means, "God in us."

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence can challenge our popular assumptions.

We're having a hard time understanding where jazz is going. What happened to jazz?

The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution to the arts.

It is the great arrogance of the present to forget the intelligence of the past

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're lead to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it's worse than fear - it's an active disengagement.

History isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are.

People tend to forget that the word "history" contains the word "story".

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz.

I began to feel that the drama of the truth that is in the moment and in the past is richer and more interesting than the drama of Hollywood movies. So I began looking at documentary films.

I have made all my films for my children with the exception of my first film because my oldest daughter wasn't born when I was making the film about the Brooklyn Bridge.

If we do not fix education in Africa, we are heading for monumental economic disaster.

A wise person is silent and rarely wants to show his wisdom. A fool is always vocal and uses every opportunity to show his foolishness.

It is not enough to be wrong, one must also be polite.

Your unwillingness to change to my view point is purely on the justifiable basis that you have your own strongly held beliefs about important life issues.

Morning seems to come earlier every year I live.

The Japanese banks are not having an easy time as they once had.

What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon.

She's [Hillary Clinton] been there for 30 years. She's not going to change. Because you look at her donors.

Once I was doing a sponsored walk. In the end I managed to raise so much money, I could afford a taxi.

Looking down on it from the helicopter, with a bottle of Jack in my left hand, a bag of pills in my right hand, and a blond head bobbing up and doen in my lap, I felt like the king of the world.