I think every Negro over fifty should get a medal for putting up with all that crap.

Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.

It's not the note you play that's the wrong note - it's the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.

If somebody told me I only had an hour to live, I'd spend it choking a white man. I'd do it nice and slow.

It's not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.

In music, silence is more important than sound.

I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life.

Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery

Do not fear mistakes. There are none.

Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.

If you sacrifice your art because of some woman, or some man, or for some color, or for some wealth, you can't be trusted.

Today is the only day in which we have any power.

I want you out in the hallway, against the far wall in single file, ready to move, in fifteen. Drop your fartsack, Ratliff.

That was the way things worked. When you were looking for the big fight, the moment that you thought would knock everything over, nothing much happened at all.

Having to struggle gave me the chance to demonstrate strength of character.

I know that each one of us travels to love alone, alone to faith and to death. I know it. I've tried it. It doesn't help. Let me come with you.

After filming I like to go home and lie down with my daughter and have a glass of wine so I don't really socialize with the other actors.

With eyes Of conjugal attraction unreprov'd. Imparadised in one another's arms. With thee conversing I forget all time. And feel that I am happier than I know.

It is feeling and force of imagination that make us eloquent.

Purpose is the most powerful motivator in the world. The secret of passion truly is purpose.

Have the courage of your convictions once you have made a decision.