“As a vessel is known by the sound, whether it be cracked or not; so men are proved, by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish.”

Nothing is easier than self-deceit.

We believe whatever we want to believe.

The man who flies shall fight again.

Every dictator is an enemy of freedom, an opponent of law.

The man who has received a benefit ought always to remember it, but he who has granted it ought to forget the fact at once.

The end of wisdom is consultation and deliberation.

We need money, for sure, Athenians, and without money nothing can be done that ought to be done.

It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery.

The sower of the seed is assuredly the author of the whole harvest of mischief.

I decline to buy repentance at the cost of ten thousand drachmas.

What we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth and justice.

A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.

There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies as against despots – suspicion.

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.

You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man’s actions are, such must be his spirit.

Close alliances with despots are never safe for free states.

Don’t you know there ain’t no devil, it’s just god when he’s drunk.

Some musicians play with their heart, you know what I mean? I don’t know what to tell a person that can’t – if you can’t tell a person what you’re talkin’ about when they’re rushin’ or droppin’ the tempo, you get somebody else.

Play what you know and then play above that

That was my gift having the ability to put certain guys together that would create a chemistry and then letting them go; letting them play what they knew, and above it.

The blues is like a planet. It’s an enormous topic. You can’t ignore the impact that it has had and continues to have on the whole musical culture. It’s a tree that everyone is swinging from. Without it, I don’t know where I would be. It’s indelible and indispensable.

This phase has known cruel colonial occupations which have lasted 300 years in Indonesia.

Once again, we find ourselves back in the unknown – not in the idea of the unknown, but in the lived reality of it. It’s the mind humbled, on its knees, with bare feet and free of the known.

Time to move on, time to get going. What lies ahead I have no way of knowing. But under my feet, baby, grass is growing.