You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time.

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence can challenge our popular assumptions.

We're having a hard time understanding where jazz is going. What happened to jazz?

The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution to the arts.

It is the great arrogance of the present to forget the intelligence of the past

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're lead to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it's worse than fear - it's an active disengagement.

Do not lose your enthusiasm. In its Greek etymology, the word enthusiasm means, "God in us."

History isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are.

People tend to forget that the word "history" contains the word "story".

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz.

I began to feel that the drama of the truth that is in the moment and in the past is richer and more interesting than the drama of Hollywood movies. So I began looking at documentary films.

Studies show that aggressively expressing anger doesn't relieve anger but amplifies it. On the other hand, not expressing anger often allows it to disappear without leaving ugly traces.

If you can lead yourself when nobody is following, people will follow when you are not leading

Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?

I think people love to attach themselves to the idea of an overnight success. That may be true about me.

Science Fiction is the jazz of literature.

Nothing is more dreadful than a husband who keeps telling you everything he thinks, and always wants to know what you think.

Most of what you see now emphasizes animals being dangerous to humans.

My favorite classes were always dumb nerdy vocabulary.

We want everyone to prepare themselves for the reality that we are not going to be able to recover significant numbers of people.

I never had a movie that I wanted to do turned down in my whole life. I always write the script first so it speaks for itself.