I played the wrong wrong notes.

Whatever you think can’t be done, somebody will come along and do it. A genius is the one most like himself.

I say, play your own way. Don't play what the public want - you play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing - even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years.

Sometimes it's to your advantage for people to think you're crazy

The loudest noise in the world is silence.

There are no wrong notes; some are just more right than others.

Trying to explain music is like trying to dance architecture.

Jazz is freedom. You think about that.

Don't play everything (or every time); let some things go by... What you don't play can be more important than what you do.

Jazz is my adventure. I'm after new chords, new ways of syncopating, new figures, new runs. How to use notes differently. That's it. Just using notes differently.

The only cats worth anything are the cats that take chances.

I decide a book is bad if I get angrier and angrier as I read it.

I've never written a quote I feel would be suitable for my gravestone. Wouldn't it be ironic if it were this one? Oh, and could you pull a few weeds while you're here?

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.

What does it matter?" I shrugged. "It's interesting and anything thats interesting is worth learning.

I am not your dear; I cannot lie down: send me to school soon, Mrs. Reed, for I hate to live here.

It take 15,000 casualties to train a major general.

A good aphorism is too hard for the tooth of time, and is not worn away by all the centuries, although it serves as food for every epoch.

Cancer doesn’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat.

Learning from experience and learning from education, both are important. Your education & values decide how you learn from your experiences.

When you have a hammer, all problems start to look like nails.