“Play what you know and then play above that”

It takes a long time to sound like yourself.

I don’t pay no attention to what critics say about me, the good or the bad. The toughest critic I got is myself…and I’m too vain to play anything I think is bad.

Food makes my mind sluggish.

If you love them in the morning with their eyes full of crust; if you love them at night with their hair full of rollers, chances are, you’re in love.

I never thought Jazz was meant to be a museum piece like other dead things once considered artistic.

Look, man, all I am is a trumpet player.

Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.

Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery.

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.

For me, music and life are all about style.

Music is a funny thing when you really come to think about it.

Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.

You have to practice for a long time before you can learn to sound like yourself.

You have to know 400 notes that you can play, then pick the right four.

If somebody told me I only had an hour to live, I’d spend it choking a white man. I’d do it nice and slow.

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.

If you have a guru, leave him; if you don’t have, get one. In other words, keep changing your gurus! Ocean’s wisdom comes from knowing many ships and many fishes, many storms and many waves!

For one who knows me, I am one with him; for one who wants to know me, I am very near to him; and for one who does not know me, I am a beggar before him.

The truths that I know best I have learned on my knees. I never know a thing well, till it is burned into my heart by prayer.

I knew that if I did not start chanting with people, that I would never be able to clean out the dark corners of my own heart. I knew it with every cell in my body and mind.

I knew that I could vote and that that wasn’t a privilege; it was my right. Every time I tried I was shot, killed or jailed, beaten or economically deprived.

Don’t give up on your dreams. You can become the person you know you really are.

Afflictions make the heart more deep, more experimental, more knowing and profound, and so, more able to hold, to contain, and beat more.

Love is when he gives you a piece of your soul, that you never knew was missing.