Genetically, I'm pure Greek. Psychologically, environmentally, culturally, by choice, I'm a member of the black community.

I get a wave of pride in America when I look back at what we've accomplished in the field of music.

People are going to wake up to this great reservoir of music we've created in America - cakewalks, one-steps, boogie-woogie, country and western. I had a bit to do with one of those traditions.

When I got near teen age, I was so happy with my friends and the African American culture that I couldn't imagine not being part of it.

Society wants to categorize everything, but to me it's all African-American music.

I'm not suggesting our music is the only music, but I am suggesting that there are certain elements in America's culture that are so precious that it would be a shame for them to go down the drain.

When I got near teen age, I was so happy with my friends and the African-American culture that I couldn't imagine not being part of it.

Choice, I've always believed, is all that separates us from animals.

I never really thought of myself as depressed so much as paralyzed by hope.

There's only, I think, in life, three things that I do pretty well: Performing, I still can field ground balls, and I make nice kids.

I very much like dance and dancers.

It's amazing how fast later comes when you buy now!

I've always been a deep thinker. Since I was a kid I was delving into the very depths of why we existed, often driving my parents crazy with unanswerable questions.

The reason of idleness and of crime is the deferring of our hopes. Whilst we are waiting, we beguile the time with jokes, with sleep, with eating, and with crimes.

For me Wagner is impossible... he talks without ever stopping. One can't just talk all the time.

It's all about how bad you want to come back. (The Achilles' is) not tight anymore. I'm like a wild dog about getting back on the field. I'm hungrier than I've ever been.

Live in a perpetual great astonishment.