My Dad is my hero. He's 85 now and he is in great health. He is handsome and strong. He has an incredible moral and ethical backbone. I couldn't have been luckier with my parents.

Well, my dad was the district attorney of New Orleans for about 30 years.

I do the things I like to do. It's sort of a bigger version of having more than one hobby.

New Orleans is my essence, my soul, my muse...

With a tone so rich, I would never be afraid of the dark. Steinway is the only and the best!

There are people who can't stand me, they say, 'God, he makes me sick', or, 'He's creepy', but it doesn't affect me too badly.

'The Christmas Song,' by Nat King Cole, is not only a masterful performance; to me it just sounds like the holidays. I've never sung it, because Nat's version is so perfect. I gotta leave it alone.

With imagination, I'll get there.

It is jazz music that called me to be a musician and I have always sang the songs that moved me the most.

Safety's just danger, out of place.

In my life I find that memories of the spirit linger and sweeten long after memories of the brain have faded.

People who have become great have only become great because they bought that greatness. They purchased that greatness but only through the currency of time.

Dreams begin when you stop to pick up the penny - you realize the continual effort you must endure to have something worth obtaining.

Unless we learn from history, we are destined to repeat it. This is no longer merely an academic exercise, but may contain our worlds fate and our destiny.

The most irascible person is most likely to become apathetic in dangerous situations.

It's hard to say what I meant by "as we know it." I'm not about to go up on a mountain on new year's eve and wait for the lightening to strike.

My wife holds the kite strings that let me go 'weeeeeee', then she reels me back in.

A man should be rugged like Steve McQueen; the way he stands, like he's ready for something. Or he should be a man of the world like Dean Martin.

Our need for innovation has shifted power closer to the source of that power-Us. We are the future.

It is a rare life that remains orderly even in private.

The Curious Incident brims with imagination, empathy, and vision — plus it's a lot of fun to read.