My religion lies in my composition.

The red and white and starry blue Is freedom's shield and hope.

I am happy now, to recall that I was not only his son but his companion, and whenever there was a hunting expedition or any other pleasure, I was always with him.

Dance as though no one is watching. Love as though you've never been hurt. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.

Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.

A band is only as good as its euphonium section.

I have always believed that 98% of a student's progress is due to his own efforts, and 2% to his teacher.

From childhood I was passionately fond of music and wanted to be a musician. I have no recollection of any real desire ever to be anything else.

Remember always that the composer's pen is still mightier than the bow of the violinist; in you lie all the possibilities of the creation of beauty.

There is one thing that freezes a musician more than the deadliest physical cold, and that is the spiritual chill of an unresponsive audience!

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.

The law is not meant to be obeyed only when it favors you and you are comfortable with it, it is also to be obeyed when it does not favor you or you're not comfortable with it.

Most of the time, our fight is all about saving us from ourselves.

There are many things in my life that I wish I could take back. Many moments I would recast.

Americans are optimists. They hope they'll be wealthy someday - and they're positive they can get one more brushful of paint out of an empty can.

Moreover, statistics can be deceiving: the growth of jobs in the US in the 90s was due to many part-time jobs, with no benefits and generally low pay.

When you go to the Opry for a show or hear it on the radio, you get the whole circle of country music.

When it comes to the internet, when it comes to the United States' technical economy, we have more to lose than any other nation on earth.

Two days prior to the Herrick operation I repaired a double cleft lip, resected a recurrent cancer of the mouth, corrected lop ears in a child, and closed a burn of the buttocks.

The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of all things.

No historical analogies are exactly precise.