I can take any series of numbers and turn it into music, from Bach to bebop, Herbie Hancock to hip-hop.

I don't follow what everybody else does.

I'm creative; I'm not re-creative.

Here in Seattle, I'm the most productive I've ever been. I don't allow myself personal distractions. I'm extremely disciplined here.

My concerns have been about myself and not about giving something back and putting something in, even though that's been in the back of my head.

My work sometimes can be abstract and appear not to have a direct relationship to Afro-American concerns, but, in fact, it is based on that.

She's somebody's mother boys you know For all she's aged and poor and slow.

Let us not forget that the greatest composers were also the greatest thieves. They stole from everyone and everywhere.

I do not think about being beautiful. What I devote most of my time to is being healthy.

unlike a disappointing marriage, disappointing motherhood cannot be terminated by divorce.

The house, it's already been a-settin' here for a hundred years. It'll be right here tomorrow. It's today I must be livin'.

One really understands testicles after reading 'The Family Jewels,' and one is gratified.

All poetic inspiration is but dream interpretation.

Everybody who served in John Kerry's boat under his command save one has stood with him.

Each time I make a movie, it's like a paid scholarship to a different university course.