It's like, how did Columbus discover America when the Indians were already here? What kind of s-- is that, but white people's s--?

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.

Love is all there is

I take showers to think.

Rome - the city of visible history, where the past of a whole hemisphere seems moving in funeral procession with strange ancestral images and trophies gathered from afar.

I'm 38 and I'm single, and I'm having my most intense and gratifying relationship with a dog. But we all learn about love in different ways, and this way happens to be mine.

There's no pressure in baseball. Pressure is when the doctor is getting ready to cut you, take your heart out, and put it on a table.

We live a short enough time on this earth. A man should do what he loves.

My primary calling, I always knew since the age of 11, was as a composer, and so that had to take priority.

That's right, kid. Never play an ace if a two will do.

Going after 'the bad guy' has not been a real issue for me.

Look at the optimism of Nature. Nothing can stop it. Only the ego makes humans pessimistic, and this causes suffering.