Plato

Necessity, who is the mother of invention.

Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.

Never play anything the same way twice.

My music is the spiritual expression of what I am: my faith, my knowledge, my being.

Why Jazz? This is just the way I see music.

It’s very difficult for me to dislike an artist. No matter what he’s creating, the fact that he’s experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we’re in a brotherhood of some kind… we’re in it together.

Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never meant to be soporific.

Mary Lou Williams used to tell me: If you’re not feeling right, play a minor tune and it falls into place.

In Europe they look upon jazz as art. In America it’s a diversion. Somebody opens a restaurant and installs another band off to the side. People don’t listen.

Living is easy with eyes closed.

Love is sweeping the country.

Sometimes when you start losing detail, whether it’s in music or in life, something as small as failing to be polite, you start to lose substance.

Not too slow, not too fast. Kind of half-fast.

I first fell in love with the piano, I knew it was me. I was dying to play.

It isn’t where you came from, it’s where you’re going that counts.

When you hear my lyrics, you hear the shots that I throw at people. I throw shots because I always been the underdog. I got rejected so many times, and I say it in my lyrics constantly.

There are notes between notes, you know.