People sometimes forget that jazz was built not only in the minds of the great ones but on the backs of the ordinary ones — ordinary musicians.

And then there's my Grandson: He's certainly got the music together, there's just no question about it.

Everybody came. Everybody came to the Cotton Club.

Everybody that you could name would join in our audiences from, Laguardia on down. Everybody came. Everybody came to the Cotton Club.

Pass that thing, slightly, lightly and politely.

Everybody did something. It was very entertaining. We had a lot of fun. Lot of fun. And there was no segregation, that I could see. I never saw any

What opera isn't violent? Two things happen, violence and love. And other than that, name something else. You can't

You don't think it was because a white man wrote it, a black man wrote it, a green man wrote it. What-doesn't make a difference!

A movie and a stage show are two entirely different things. A picture, you can do anything you want. Change it, cut out a scene, put in a scene, take a scene out. They don't do that on stage

We usually never got out of there before four or five o'clock in the morning. Every morning. So it was rough.

A phoenix ain't nuthin' but a burd.

We're not friends, Mark, " I reply sadly. "We're strangers with memories.

No one can help but stare at the monster, because horror is a cousin to awe.

Happiness is best when shared. Wherever you go, make sure to leave a little happiness behind.

A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin.

The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.

There was a man who was worthless, and knew he was worthless, and yet however far down he tried to sink his soul, there was always some part of him capable of great action.

Magic is used in espionage, all the time, for clandestine things. I've got a whole library from a gentleman who was hired by the CIA to create magic technology for the use of anti-terrorism.

One of the main reasons I paint is because I think nature is so wonderful. I want to try to get my feelings of that down on canvas, if possible.

If you spend too much time in a place like that your power level will be lowered and these beings will annoy you.

Acting represents all that human beings experience, and if you want it to be 'nice,' you will never be a serious communicator of the human experience.