“I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, “Ain’t that the truth.””

A great song can make a terrible singer sound good, but a good singer – you put a great song on top of that, you’re really in great shape!

You Make Your Mistakes To Learn How To Get To The Good Stuff.

I don’t remember feeling love.

Count Basie practically adopted me at 13. We became closer and closer and I ended up conducting for him and Sinatra.

I’m a great believer in letting lyrics just flow out, wherever they come from.

I started imagining this whole different world. It was a society of musicians, a family I hoped I could belong to one day.

I never felt like I had a mother.

Did you know you would become as successful as you have? Hell, no. But you know what? You were prepared, baby.

China’s got a billion people and a hit record over there is a million records. You know that ain’t right.

A song should have all the color and beauty of every rose.

My dream is to put together a performance of the evolution of black music with Cirque du Soleil . I would also like to do street opera and children’s books. But even as I work toward these things, I want to simplify my life.

My earliest memories are being pinned to a fence with a switchblade.

The process is the most beautiful part.

I found this out over the years, that racism is a thinly veiled disguise over economics and money. It really is.

It’s the attitude about life, man. Looking at the light instead of the dark. Looking at love instead of fear.

Young people should travel, and they don’t. You can’t know if you don’t go.

Instead of working for the survival of the fittest, we should be working for the survival of the wittiest – then we can all die laughing.

There it was: a few friends, laughter, and the safest place on earth.

I try to bring the audience’s own drama – tears and laughter they know about – to them.

Humor is laughing at what you haven’t got when you ought to have it.

I never laugh until I’ve had my coffee.

The ability to laugh heartily is the sign of a healthy soul.

I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes, but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong.

One thing that makes me prefer people over books is shared laughter.