A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

"The wise musicians are those who play what they can master."

"I don't need time, I need a deadline."

"There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit Number2- Never forget rule number 1."

"A problem is a chance for you to do your best."

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."

"Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it."

"Gray skies are just clouds passing over."

"It doesn't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing"

"There are two kinds of worries - those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter."

"My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never."

"By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with."

"Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be too famous too young."

"Love is supreme and unconditional. Like is nice, but limited."

"Music is the tonal reflection of beauty."

"Playing 'bop' is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing."

"You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it."

"If it sounds good, it IS good."

"It's like an act of murder; you play with intent to commit something."

"New York is a place where the rich walk, the poor drive Cadillac's, and the beggars die of malnutrition with thousands of dollars hidden in their mattresses."

"Critics have their purposes, and they're supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what they did."

"People do not retire. They are retired by others."

"Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees."

"Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no one."

"A man is a god in ruins."

"There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone."

"The common root, of course, comes out of Africa. That's the pulse.The African pulse. It's all the way back from . . . the old slave chants and up through the blues, the jazz, and up through rock. And it's all got the African pulse."

"If you have a great band with a mediocre drummer, you have a mediocre band. If you have a mediocre band with a great drummer, you have a great band!"

"Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfishness is essential to survival, and without survival we cannot protect those whom we love more than ourselves."

"What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?"

"Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited."

"Critics get a little carried away with what someone should have done, rather than what he did."

"I fluffed off the guy who kept requesting tunes all night, then found out he was the King's son."

"There is no art when one does something without intention."

"Every man prays in his own language."

"Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare."

"I like any and all of my associations with music -writing, playing, and listening. We write and play from our perspective, and the audience listens from its perspective. If and when we agree, I am lucky."

"Jazz is a good barometer of freedom."

"Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous, you don't want it."

"A Satin Doll is a woman who is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside."

"My biggest kick in music -playing or writing- is when I have a problem. Without a problem to solve, how much interest do you take in anything?"

"It's like an act of murder-you play with intent to commit something."

"I don't need time. What I need is a deadline!"

"The artist must say it without saying it."

"Problems are chances for us to do our best."

"Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself."

"If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!"

"Yet, every time God's children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened."

"There is no art without intention."

"A musical profit outweighs a financial loss."