Due to my work, I tend to stay in hotels a lot of the time, and I generally prefer smaller hotels, as you tend to get better service than in the larger hotels.

Without the piano my life would be a disaster - nobody would hold me in any regard. It's the thing that saved me.

I learned from Van Morrison and BB King that the first take is the best. It's about capturing a moment. It's the same as love's first kiss. If you try to do it again, it doesn't work so well.

As a bandleader, I try to pass on the same family values that I grew up with: help people, hang on to your sense of humour, be tolerant and keep your judgments to yourself.

It would be great to have Bach in one corner, Bessie Smith in another, John Lennon in another. That's what I'd ideally like. A studio of the dead.

'The Tube' was the first time the plebs had gone on the television. The lunatics taking over the asylum.

Amy Winehouse and Paul Weller are examples of poets, I think.

A good example of the modern world is the Eurotunnel. And mobile phones - I like them.

I do so much travelling in my work that my suitcase is always packed, with my passport ready. I rarely unpack, as I am constantly on the move.

Naggers always know what they are doing. They weigh up the risks, then they go on and on and on until they get what they want or until they get punched.

How you feel after reading something indicates not what you’ve read but where you are at.

If you think it can be done, then go ahead with boldness. Don’t listen to those who do not believe in your dreams.

I thought: 'My education is driving a wedge between me and the people I love.' And then I wondered: 'What would happen if it were possible to increase a person's intelligence?'

In business, you try to solve problems.

Now, settle down, settle down. Hell, I'm an old man, it's early in the morning and I'm gathering my thoughts here.

I can understand the fact you don't want the ball slipping out of a pitcher's hand because someone can get hurt.

I furnished the body that was needed to sit in the defendant's chair.[Explaining his role in the Scopes Monkey Trial.]

Oh God, friend breakups are the worst. The worst! And I've been through it. Basically, if you're over the age of 5, you've been through friend breakups.

I love learning on the set. But, directing is not something I want to do.

A favorite strategy was the paragraph-terminating: Right? Followed immediately by Wrong. This linear invitation to a mugging was considered a strategy of wit.