I just liked the feeling of being on stage. My parents weren't pushing me, they didn't have to, I was obsessed.

Well, my dad was the district attorney of New Orleans for about 30 years.

I do the things I like to do. It's sort of a bigger version of having more than one hobby.

New Orleans is my essence, my soul, my muse...

With a tone so rich, I would never be afraid of the dark. Steinway is the only and the best!

There are people who can't stand me, they say, 'God, he makes me sick', or, 'He's creepy', but it doesn't affect me too badly.

'The Christmas Song,' by Nat King Cole, is not only a masterful performance; to me it just sounds like the holidays. I've never sung it, because Nat's version is so perfect. I gotta leave it alone.

With imagination, I'll get there.

It is jazz music that called me to be a musician and I have always sang the songs that moved me the most.

Safety's just danger, out of place.

In my life I find that memories of the spirit linger and sweeten long after memories of the brain have faded.

You are beyond worth and your potential to change is in your next thought.

If those we love visit us when we dream, those who torment us almost always visit us when we're still awake.

We must never return to the Julie Andrews curriculum where we teach "a few of my favorite things"!

I may add that I am enjoying existence as much as ever, and regret nothing.

To be responsible is to be the uncontested author of an event or thing.

The most lively fancy aided by the strongest description cannot equal the reality of the opera.

When a person is accustomed to one hundred and thirty-eight in the shade, his ideas about cold weather are not valuable.

Government does not grow by seizing our freedoms, but by assuming our responsibilities.

My star was kind of fading towards the end of the '60s and suddenly I got this call from Fellini, who just appeared to kind of love me!