From the time I could play the piano, I remember trying to write tunes. They were in my head, and I would just sit down and start noodling. Next thing I knew, I had written a melody.

I'm not one of those people who says, 'I never read reviews,' because I don't believe those people.

I have always thought of music as a highway with many lanes.

I still have great faith in what is good and right in all of us.

I was always drawn to Broadway musicals, and obviously composers like Gershwin, Rodgers, Berlin and Porter were writing music that I found wildly impressive.

My whole thing is not just to play music for people, but to make them part of the evening.

There have been studies that clearly state that children who are exposed to arts education at a young age will in fact do markedly better in their SAT tests

You mustn't underestimate an audience's intelligence.

The biggest thrill you can have is to tell people one of your songs, and have them be able to hum it.

My show business career doesn't mean I can't write a symphony. It just means I was never asked to write one.

I can make a song up about anything: garbage, the weather, things in the news.

Inner strength of character cannot be measured by any means but performance in the time of need.

The moment you think that your destiny is predetermined, you become a miserable loser! Trust your own power so that you can shape your own destiny!

Trouble is the thing that strong men grow by. Met in the right way it is a sure-fire means of putting iron into the victim's will and making him a tougher man to down forever after.

Early is on time and on time is late.

Anti-Semitism is a disease-you catch it from Jews

I won't try to be anybody else. I just try to be myself.

No, I'm not a French designer either. I'm from nowhere. I'm a European, old European is all I am.

In leaving Hollywood and coming to New York, I feel I can be more myself. After all, if I can't be myself, what's the good of being anything at all?

You are the root of heaven, the morning star, the bright moon, the house of endless Love

You can now be a master of your own destiny. I'm not sure why you would sign up with a record label.