I have to listen to New York; I live there. I wasn't born there, but I've been living there all my life.

Whatever you think can’t be done, somebody will come along and do it. A genius is the one most like himself.

I say, play your own way. Don't play what the public want - you play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing - even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years.

Sometimes it's to your advantage for people to think you're crazy

The loudest noise in the world is silence.

There are no wrong notes; some are just more right than others.

Trying to explain music is like trying to dance architecture.

Jazz is freedom. You think about that.

Don't play everything (or every time); let some things go by... What you don't play can be more important than what you do.

Jazz is my adventure. I'm after new chords, new ways of syncopating, new figures, new runs. How to use notes differently. That's it. Just using notes differently.

The only cats worth anything are the cats that take chances.

Observe your path ahead carefully

If you let it bother you, it will bother you.

A great city is the place to escape the true drama of provincial life and find solace in fantasy.

Life everlasting in a state of happiness is the greatest desire of all men.

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.

It was also wonderful to have the prospect of playing with Jack Nicholson. It was a terrific part, a terrific script, with Alexander Payne and Jack Nicholson. You can't get any better than that!

Start climbing the stairs without thinking how steep are the stairs or how many stairs are there!

As spirits roam the neighborhoods at night, Let loose upon the Earth till it be light.

Men must learn how to grieve, or they are inevitably angry or controlling, and they don't even know why.

The greatest tragedy in life is not death. The greatest tragedy is to be alive and not know why