Kanye West

When I see people go at the President, why not try love, for one person to stand up against all odds and just hug somebody the way that Alice Johnson hugged her family when she got out of jail?.

We’re numb. We’re numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago last year. We’re numb that there were dozens of police shootings in the beginning of July. We’re numb to places on the earth where we don’t live. Our life is OK, but it’s OK for other people’s lives to not be OK.

I don’t want to put too many boxes on it because the work speaks louder than words.

[on Glastonbury] I started off the show and I completely messed up the music. And me, as you can imagine by this phone call, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. So it really put me into a slightly depressed state.

One of the reasons why I think that me and Kim are very powerful together isn’t just the concept of celebrity or this mega rap star and this mega-beautiful pop star. It’s something I explain to my girl: She is who she is. I am who I am. We have advisers and friends and everything, but those people are who they are and we are who we are. And what I had to learn from Kim is how to take more of her advice and less of other people’s advice. There’s a lot of Kim K skills that were added. In order to win at life, you need some Kim K skills, period.

I love Obama. I’m sure we’ll hang out, go to Richard Branson’s island. It’ll be cool.

I have no one style.

Jazz to me is a living music. It’s a music that since its beginning has expressed the feelings, the dreams, hopes, of the people.

Writing is allowing the musical idea to speak for itself.

I thought I had swell ideas and wonderful musicians but no one else did.

To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.

I compulsively reach for perfection in music, often at the expense of everything else in my life.

Jazz has the ability to absorb and transform influences from diverse musical styles.

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music.

All the music that was ever heard came from the inner silence in every musician.

Musicians should never forget we’re blessed. We have a special gift that people enjoy through us.

You’ve got to learn your instrument.

When you’re creating your own shit, even the sky ain’t the limit.

I would like to thank my father who discouraged me from playing the violin at an early age.

Jazzmen are our surrogates for the unpredictable, our paladins of constant change.

I wrote “Pilot of My Destiny” because of my love of flying. The fact that my brother is a pilot inspired me to write it. I call him pilot. He calls me copilot.