If I had grown up in any place but New Orleans, I don't think my career would have taken off. I wouldn't have heard the music that was around this town. There was so much going on when I was a kid.

I was improvising before I was reading music. I was just trying to play things on the clarinet by ear. I think my ear is one of my greatest assets.

What we used to say was whoever had the bow tie got to lead the band. There was never any jealousy.

If you're making money people don't think you're playing Jazz. When you're not making money they think you're a great Jazz musician.

There's a reason why the NRA's not here. They're just down the street. And since this is the main reason they exist, you'd think that they'd be prepared to have a debate with a president.

I am a serious artist in my own right, in the sense that I've spent my entire life being an artist and trying to be an artist and making work.

I wanna design a video game where you'd have to take care of all the people shot in all the other video games.

For afterwards a man finds pleasure in his pains, when he has suffered long and wandered long. So I will tell you what you ask and seek to know.

As a matter of fact, I didn't make a political speech outside of my state for 20 years.

I've never dyed my hair or even gotten highlights. All the products I need for my hair are at the drugstore!

Most beautiful dumb girls think they are smart and get away with it, because other people, on the whole, aren't much smarter.

Why do scuba divers fall backwards off a boat? Because if they fell forwards they'd still be in the boat.

I was educated at Bradfield College and Oxford, where I graduated in 1939.

I always say if you've seen good acting on television, those actors are really good. Because there's just not enough time. You don't have any preparation.