The European boys have small ideas but they sure know how to dress 'em up.

Life is a lot like jazz. It's best when you improvise.

True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time.

Originality is the only thing that counts. But the originator uses material and ideas that occur round him and pass through him. And out of his experience comes the original creation.

Jazz is one of the best things that you can find in your life, it can always be your friend.

I like to think of music as an emotional science.

Look at the piano. You'll notice that there are white notes and black notes. Figure out the difference between them and you'll be able to make whatever kind of music you want.

Jazz I regard as an American folk music; not the only one, but a very powerful one which is probably in the blood and feeling of the American people more than any other style of folk music.

Music sets up certain vibration which unquestionably results in a physical reaction. Eventually the proper vibration for every person will be found and utilized.

I didn't even start playing the piano until I was about 13 or 14. I guess I must have had a little talent or whatever-you-call-it, but I practised regularly, and that's what counts.

Why should I limit myself to only one woman when I can have as many women as I want?

By disobeying immoral orders, that individual preserves the institution's highest rank - dignity.

Other people's eggs have two yolks.

Clean up a pigsty," she commented one evening, "and if the creatures in it still have pig-minds and pig-desires, soon it will be the same old pigsty again.

White supremacy has taught white people to be racially, culturally, & politically illiterate.

When I'm on stage I don't say anything. The last thing I want to do is share my thoughts. I don't know if that's mysterious - maybe it's just old fashioned.

[God is] all that is. Everything. Everything. Breath, life. Just get Webster's Dictionary and throw it on the floor. It's everything... God is everything.

Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity.

When you put your hands and mind and heart into the knowing of a thing ... there is no room in you for fear.

If an individual is born with the obligation to obey, who is born with the right to command?

You are not Atlas carrying the world on your shoulder. It is good to remember that the planet is carrying you.