A life was owned by the person who lived it, he believed. What happened didn't always happen because you wanted it to, but what you made of it was your responsibility.

But he didn't have to listen to his father. Taking after your father was optional, wasn't it?

It is said that ‘Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’. I say, ‘Perfection lies in the heart of the receiver.

Those who say don't know, those who know don't say

Excellence is the asymptotic state that never quite reaches perfection.

The act of writing for the slave constituted the act of creating a public, historical self, not only the self of the individual author but also the self, as it were, of the race.

The thing about the banjo is when you first hear it, it strikes many people as what's that? There's something very compelling about it to certain people.

So there’s an . . . an etiquette to raking. Some seducer’s code of honor. Is this what you’re telling me?

I didn't read this book--I inhaled it. This a terrific new take on a great old rock n roll story, a clash of the musical titans.

I hope I shall never see the day when the Force of Right is deprived of the Right of Force.