“Excellence isn’t an act, it’s a habit.”

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.

All guys get into music because they love music and they also want to get the girls.

My grandmother had this high-tech security system – a rusty nail she used to lock the door.

The only music I don’t like is bad music.

I’m just a musician and a record producer.

A lot of the guys were like that – Oscar Pettiford – they just took me under their wing, and that’s why I automatically help young people. I just love it, because they did that for me.

Let’s not get too full of ourselves. Let’s leave space for God to come into the room.

The act of multitrack recording is the act of arranging.

Excellence in anything increases your potential in everything.

Once you understand what excellence is all about, you see how excellence manifest itself in any discipline.

Life is about the pursuit of excellence. That pursuit is probably more exciting to me now more than ever.

Is this still worth doing? And if it isn’t, he gets rid of it so as to be able to concentrate on the few tasks that, if done with excellence, will really make a difference in the results of his own job and in the performance of his organization.

Once you understand what excellence is all about, you see how excellence manifests itself in any discipline.

Having the privilege of sitting down and having 3 hour long uninterrupted conversations with hundreds of brilliant people is an awesome perspective enhancer. Quotes

I worry so much. Like, ‘Damn, how can I be excellent?’ But it’s a journey.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.