“Jazz is not just 'Well, man, this is what I feel like playing.' It's a very structured thing that comes down from a tradition and requires a lot of thought and study.”

“it ain't as hard as picking cotton”

“Today you go into make a modern recording with all this technology. The bass plays first, then the drums come in later, then they track the trumpet and the singer comes in and they ship the tape so...”

“The thing in jazz that will get Bix Beiderbecke out of his bed at two oclock in the morning, pick that cornet up and practice into the pillow for another two or three hours, or that would make Loui...”

“I noticed that religion gave some people a way to escape dealing with the world: Things will be better when you die, the people of my grandmas generation said as they worked themselves to death. Go...”

“Jazz is democracy in music.”

“I was ashamed of myself for being ashamed of myself. I didn't like feeling like that.”

“I felt like a failure, like somehow my self-worth was tied to my ability to procreate. I didn't feel like I could talk about it. I did not want other people's pity, so I mostly kept my story and my...”

“My failures may be my greatest successes. It is in failure that I have often drawn closer to God, learn to depend more on Him than myself, gained self-knowledge, and seen things in their right pers...”

“Whenever you don't know someone and you overhear their problems they always sound so trivial.”

“Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.”

“There are always answers. We just have to be smart enough.”

“When the mind wants to hope it refuses to listen.”

“Sweet are the thoughts that savour of content, The quiet mind is richer than a crown...”

“It turns out that the men who ultimately, who unpretentiously value peace are willing to sacrifice their own peace of mind in order to render it. The question is, 'Who, between opposing forces, wou...”