The extraordinary thing about my mother, she's so modest about me.

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?

Papa was a man with silver eyes, not dead ones. Papa was an accordion! But his bellows were all empty. Nothing went in and nothing came out.

We live in wonder, blaze in a cycle of passion and apprehension.

We call them feelings because we feel them.

I've come to believe in some kind of afterlife. A return to our true selves, a spirit self. We're just in this physical body till we go back to spirit.

The old culture had come out of poverty, out of English customs.

It is interesting to note that the 200 richest people have more assets than the 2 billion poorest.

A solid process lays the foundation for a healthy culture, one where ideas are evaluated by merit and not by job title.

I'm for Simpson-Bowles. It doesn't raise taxes, it closes loopholes and takes the money we would give to a few people and put it on the debt.

Everything I needed to know I learned in Iowa... I know what it means to be from Iowa - what we value and what's important... I grew up here in Iowa.

Writing songs for other people was never the goal for me.