People do not retire. They are retired by others.

Critics have their purposes, and they’re supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what they...

The Europeans who went to Africa came back with “modern’ art. What is more African than a Picasso?

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

A problem is your chance to do your best.

You’ve got to find some way of saying it without saying it

in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture.

Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.

It’s like an act of murder; you play with intent to commit something.

Willow Weep for Me.

There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don’t want it.

Playing “bop” is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.

By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.

Playing ‘Bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing

There are two kinds of worries – those you can do something about and those you can’t. Don’t spend any time on the latter.

The wise musicians are those who play what they can master

Roaming through the jungle of “oohs” and “ahs,” searching for a more agreeable noise, I live a life of primitivity with the mind of a child and an unquenchable thirst for sharps and flats.

New York is a place where the rich walk, the poor drive Cadillac’s, and the beggars die of malnutrition with thousands of dollars hidden in their mattresses.

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

On becoming more acquainted with the word of the Bible, I began to understand so much more of what I had been taught, and of what I had learned about life and about the people...

There are two kinds of worries — those you can do something about and those you can’t. Don’t spend any time on the latter.

My mother told me I was blessed, and I have always taken her word for it. Being born of — or reincarnated from — royalty is nothing Like being blessed. Royalty is inherited from another...

It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing

Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees.

Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited