My own Brubeck Institute in California is turning out fantastic young jazz players, and I know great things will happen.

Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don't be a perfectionist - leave that to the classical musicians.

Jazz is about the only form of art existing today in which there is freedom of the individual without the loss of group contact.

Damn it, when I'm bombastic, I have my reasons. I want to be bombastic-take it or leave it.

Kinship doesn't come from skin color. It's in your soul and your mind.

It's like a whole orchestra, the piano for me.

The secret of a great melody is a secret.

I'm always hoping for the nights that are inspired where you almost have an out of body experience

Jazz is about freedom within discipline.

Don't be a perfectionist... leave that to the classical musicians.

We don't know the power that's within our own bodies

Do not distance yourself from people who need you most today, because tomorrow you will need them the most.

If you want to be successful in any area of life, you have to work on developing your soul.

One can become ‘Embodiment of Love’ [Prem Swaroop], only when there is no my-ness [mamata].

Assumptions are quick exits for lazy minds that like to graze out in the fields without bother.

Paco, we are all so much more than our faults, aren’t we?

For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost without a pause almost everybody accepts.

There are already a number of gatherings centered around women of color who are doing inspiring work.

Books are the building blocks of civilization, for without the written word, a man knows nothing beyond what occurs during his own brief years and, perhaps, in a few tales his parents tell him.

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.

I like to move towards a place where my greatest experience is promoting happiness for others. I know that that creates a cycle of the same great experience.