My main influences have always been the classic jazz players who sang, like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole and Jack Teagarden.

I went through the whole number, you know. The swing era, the boogie woogie era, the bebop era. Thelonious Monk is still one of my favorites. So a lot of these people had their effect on me.

All the classic jazz players all sang and a lot of 'em sang blues.

Everybody cryin' mercy / When they don't know the meaning of the word.

The things that really matter don't mix with idle chatter.

Ever since the world ended, I don't go out as much

I have no idea what I'm doin'. I've never seen me.

I been getting good crowds. It only took 50 years.

I'm playin' music for a certain type of person. Fortunately, there are more and more of us. At least there are more comin' to see me than there were 30 years ago or so.

As far as I'm concerned, the essentials of jazz are: melodic improvisation, melodic invention, swing, and instrumental personality.

I never sit down and write. I just sorta let things form in my brain.

Knowing the question is more important than knowing the answer. It makes you curious, lets you think, and helps you to understand and open your mind.

A man does not know how he came by the half a pie he is holding in his hand!

Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.

Abel. I can’t let you…sell your body.”“The transaction is closer to a rental.

that Englishman who came to challenge me three or four months ago, and whom I killed to stop him bothering me

I used to work the graveyard shift.

I would love to work with Adam Sandler. Because then all I'd have to do is just turn the camera on and off.

All the nations of the earth are crying out for liberty and equality. Away, away with tyranny and oppression!

America means opportunity, freedom, power.

The automobile is the most dangerous weapon in our society - cars kill more than wars do.