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.

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

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.

A painting is music you can see and music is a painting you can hear.

Ignorance leads to leaving in self-deception.

Hang on! God will be thy strength in any act of your pursuit.

Do you want a world with . . . more joy and happiness? Then find your own joy and happiness and contribute to the joy and happiness of others.

In teaching writing, I'm learning new things about writing.

I've tried to be a straight scientist doing the science and reporting it as best I can.

I do have this reputation for being a serious person.

No matter how devastating our struggles, disappointments, and troubles are, they are only temporary.

Restaurants that have health-conscious consumers will pay attention to this.

A barn with cattle and horses is the place to begin Christmas; after all, that's where the original event happened, and that same smell was the first air that the Christ Child breathed.

If you are not capable of being alone, your relationship is false. It is just a trick to avoid your loneliness, nothing else.