You can't eat fish. It's 6,000 parts DDT per million all over the world, not counting radiation.

I grew a love for helpless, defenseless things. People would give me lions and jaguars. I had cheetahs, monkeys.

I always wanted a guitar. I always wanted to be a cowboy singer because I also listened to Hank Williams, and he would always sing these neat romantic songs.

Buddy Rich was one of the most incredible technicians in the world, on this planet, but the only people he could really impress, who knew what he was doing was another musician or another drummer.

There's a saying. If you want someone to love you forever, buy a dog, feed it and keep it around.

I used to be a mean maniac. Someone once threw a firecracker at a show and I jumped off the side of the stage and whacked 'em on the side of the head.

The kids called me King of the Surf Guitar. I surfed sunup to sundown.

My uncle gave me a trumpet, but I loved the Louis Armstrong sound and the Harry James sound and I played by ear and I played always soulful or very direct from the gut.

My philosophy is the thicker the wood the thicker the sound, the bigger the string the bigger the sound. My smallest string is a 14 gauge.

I don't play pyrotechnic scales. I play about frustration, patience, anger. Music is an extension of my soul.

Every song is like a painting.

There are umpires, and there are those who hold the title.

Loquacity, n. A disorder which renders the sufferer unable to curb his tongue when you wish to talk.

I never felt so much at home as I do in New York. I must be a devil.

Babies don't know who's rich and who's poor. You love 'em and they're happy.

If we do not pay for children in good schools, then we are going to pay for them in prisons and mental hospitals.

I think you should make movies as long as the story dictates.

I know this about the American people: We welcome competition. We'll match our ingenuity, our energy, our experience and technology, our spirit and enterprise against anyone.

Money and ownership alone aren't enough. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score.

There are those who struggle every day with challenges. Let us extend to them our concern, as well as a helping hand. As we care for each other, we will be blessed.

I'm honest about expressing my opinions. At the same time, I'm diplomatic in how I do critique things if I have a negative response.