We're working as if it were going out of style-which of course it is.

I tried practicing for a few weeks and ended up playing too fast.

Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can't be taught.

The qualities in music which I considered most important - and still do - were beauty, simplicity, originality, discrimination, and sincerity.

Milton, of all people, gave the most perfect definition of the state of mind required to play jazz: ' with wanton heed and giddy cunning.' That's how you play jazz.

I think I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to sound like a dry martini.

Not for me. If I want to tune everybody out, I just take off my glasses and enjoy the haze.

I would like to thank my father who discouraged me from playing the violin at an early age.

It was never supposed to be a hit. It was supposed to be a Joe Morello drum solo.

I discovered early in life that if you take gym first period, you can go into the wrestling room and sit in the corner and sleep.

I was unfashionable before anyone knew who I was.

I had a very wise mother. She always kept books that were my grade level in our house.

I froze, shocked. (And don't try to claim that you did anything different the first time a government bureaucrat pulled a gun on you.)

You know what a fan letter is - it's just an inky raspberry.

Depression is sadness gone wrong

Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined

I don't want to end up losing my soul.

To be perfectly honest, drama is a lot simpler than comedy.

Man — despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments — owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.

I don't want to because boys don't write poetry. Girls do.

When I was doing ensemble theater and comedy work, I felt I had some talents. But when I started doing my shows in Berkeley and found that I could be funny on my own, I was shocked.