You will never know what the meaning of Jazz is if ask what it means.

Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine, I look right into the heart of good old New Orleans. It has given me something to live for.

Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them.

Don't do nothing halfway, else you find yourself dropping more than can be picked up.

What we play is life.

I got a simple rule about everybody. If you don't treat me right - shame on you.

If I don’t practice for a day, I know it. If I don’t practice for two days, the critics know it. And if I don’t practice for three days, the public knows it.

Each man has his own music bubbling up inside him.

And I think to myself what a wonderful world. Oh, yeah.

If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.

A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.

When you were too young and naïve to see the risks, I incurred your wrath to protect you. Scream at me for it if you must. Thank me for it when you finally grow up.

Listen first, then sell.

Dreams are nothing but incoherent ideas, occasioned by partial or imperfect sleep.

The only event in the history of our species that compares with this one is Genesis. And this is a new kind of Genesis, the Genesis of our species into conscious awareness.

Before history is written down in books, it is written in courage.

Germany must be a country which generates political ideas and leadership, which is capable of compromise, which is sovereign and yet knows that it needs its partners on both sides of the Atlantic.

A multifaceted writer, very easy on the surface to pin down but incredibly difficult once you actually read him with any depth.

I believe that the power of literature is stronger than the power of tyranny.

Your future is not determined by the conditions around you. It is determined by your faith, your choices, and your efforts

What you learn from others you can use to follow. What you learn for yourself you can use to lead.