It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime and ending with the hard facts of autumn.

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence can challenge our popular assumptions.

We're having a hard time understanding where jazz is going. What happened to jazz?

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

It is the great arrogance of the present to forget the intelligence of the past

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're lead to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it's worse than fear - it's an active disengagement.

Do not lose your enthusiasm. In its Greek etymology, the word enthusiasm means, "God in us."

History isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are.

People tend to forget that the word "history" contains the word "story".

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz.

I began to feel that the drama of the truth that is in the moment and in the past is richer and more interesting than the drama of Hollywood movies. So I began looking at documentary films.

Life and death- what paltry words, what tarnished bookends, what unjust summation for drawing breath one moment and failing to release it the next.

Conscious faith is freedom. Emotional faith is slavery. Mechanical faith is foolishness.

Knowledge is to seek, but not a job...

You can tell a lot about a person's priorities in life by reading their will.

Perfection is impossible.Expecting the best from yourselfisn’t about trying to be perfect

Not eating meat is a decision, eating meat is an instinct.

I'd like to design something like a city or a museum. I want to do something hands on rather than just play golf which is the sport of the religious right.

Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" was extremely important to me.

I am not my own friend.Time cuts me in two.

It's pretty hard to make out what's going to be a commercial success and what's not.