It ["Begin the Beguine"] became such a hit that it superseded anything that any band had ever had. It was the first time that a so-called swing band played something melodic and still gave it a beat.

'Swing' is an adjective or a verb, not a noun. All jazz musicians should swing. There is no such thing as a 'swing band' in music.

If you don’t see the wonder in the most ordinary phenomenon, you’re not going to resonate very much.

If you wanna dance, a windshield wiper'll do it-all you need is a beat.

I did all you can do with a clarinet. Any more would have been less.

Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijiana, and will expire on cocaine.

You have no idea of the women I didn't marry.

An audience is in many respects no more than a mob under loose control.

The good old days are neither better nor worse than the ones we're living through right now.

An entertainer pleases others while an artist only has to please himself.

Somebody asked me once, 'Do you think that swing will ever come back?' And I said, 'Do you think the 1938 Ford will ever come back?'

The loudest preacher in the world is your conscience, the cleverest is wisdom, the rowdiest is passion, the surest is truth, the purest is love, and the highest is God.

If Marilyn Monroe was alive right now, what would she be doing?' Clawing at the roof of her coffin.

I did very much enjoy being part of an independent film. It was just the energy.

The uncertainty of our future is nothing more than a fog of breath on a windowpane.

I'm gonna have to be killed before I lose, and I ain't going to die easy.

The miracle is to walk on the earth.

Where there are sheep, the wolves are never very far away.

There are no guarantees. But there is also nothing to fear. We come from oblivion when we are born. We return to oblivion when we die. The astonishing thing is this period of in-between.

There's really five companies who control 90% of what we read, see, and hear.

I will keep my body charged with energy for fulfillment of my purpose, in accord with that which is commanded of me.