If you deny mystery-even in the guise of death-then you deny life, and you will walk like a ghost through your days, never knowing the secrets of the extremes. The deep sorrows, the absolute joys.

I am responsible for my life, my happiness, and my joy. I am responsible for my faults, which will destroy.

Blessing Number One. Thank you for getting old because it means you are getting to live.

My own attitude to the innumerable injustices of life has always been a philosophical one, especially when they have tended to operate in my favour.

And seem to walk on wings, and tread in air.

Clutter is not a property of information. Clutter is a failure of design.

I am finding it very hard to get my novel started. I suffer from stylistic abscesses; and sentences keep itching without coming to a head.

These things happen. One day you run everything, and the next day you run like a dog.

The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution to the arts.

The title's more important than the book.

To understand what music has to be, you have to live for music. Who's ready to do that?