Here in Seattle, I'm the most productive I've ever been. I don't allow myself personal distractions. I'm extremely disciplined here.

I can take any series of numbers and turn it into music, from Bach to bebop, Herbie Hancock to hip-hop.

I don't follow what everybody else does.

I'm creative; I'm not re-creative.

My concerns have been about myself and not about giving something back and putting something in, even though that's been in the back of my head.

My work sometimes can be abstract and appear not to have a direct relationship to Afro-American concerns, but, in fact, it is based on that.

Someone who dreams cannot be forced to stop—there are no limitations to dreams, because we do not own dreams, dreams are from God.

When, and only when, you clearly see the inner roots to an outer condition, can you change them and thus it.

Too many people I've loved dearly have left this earth. And some I've lost are still here breathing the same air. That grief can be comparable if not worse in its consumption.

What I say is what I say, I don't always say the right thing, I don't always say the politically correct thing. I don't have any regrets about that.

All whispers and echoes from a past that is gone teem into the sleeper's brain, and he is with them, and part of them.

Watch, listen and learn. You can't know it all yourself. Anyone who thinks they do is destined for mediocrity.

I'm not an exhibitionist. But, honestly, for my art I'll do anything almost. I'll go there.

I really like my doctors. Some of them I love. I trust them.

God's existence cannot be deduced by reason alone.

I heard one time that the Superman glyph is the second or third most recognizable symbol on Earth after the Christian cross.