All great composers of the past spent most of their time studying. Feeling alone won't do the job. A man also needs technique.

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?

Good stuff doesn't just happen. You have to fight for it.

Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.

Dating co-stars is natural. When you're working with someone, it's habit.

Democrats need to become a 50-state party. You can't have a great party on the West Coast and the East Coast. You need to have a party in all 50 states.

The letter e may now no longer be used to denote anything other than this positive universal constant.

And, in a funny way, each death is different and you mourn each death differently and each death brings back the death you mourned earlier and you get into a bit of a pile-up.

It's my experience that people rise to the level of their own expectations and of the competition they seek out.

We all wish to be of importance in one way or another. The child coughs with might and main, since it has no other claim on the company.

If you get basics that can be switched and piece it together, that is so important.