“I look back and say, “This must have been somebody else.” I am not going to tell you that when I was 4, I dreamed about all of this.”

Not one ounce of my self worth depends on your acceptance of me.

I chose the trombone because the trombone players in the marching band got to be up front with the majorettes (because of the slides) and I loved that!

Billy Strayhorn wrote Multicolored Blue. Billy to me is the boss of the arrangers.

You can study orchestration, you can study harmony and theory and everything else, but melodies come straight from God.

I learned real early why God gave us two ears and one mouth, because you’re supposed to listen twice as much as you talk.

Whenever a woman would come too close, I would cut her off. Part of that was vindictive – but that was totally subconscious.

When you’re over the hill, that’s when you pick up speed.

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

If I don’t have a mother, I’ll let music be my mother.

Imagine what a harmonious world it could be if every single person, both young and old shared a little of what he is good at doing.

All the jazz guys had interracial relationships, and even the ladies did. Over the years, interracial relationships have been a hip, almost defiant thing, a way of saying “Nobody can put a boundary around me.”

I was married for 36 years but now I’m free.

You have to know that your real home is within.

I’m never in my life going to do a record that’s a tribute to myself. I don’t need it.

Music in movies is all about dissonance and consonance, tension and release.

They say a blind hog will find the acorn one day.

I was very depressed after breaking off my engagement with Johnny ten years ago. I was embarrassingly dramatic at the time, but you have to remember I was only 19 years old.

Penicillin sat on a shelf for ten years while I was called a quack.

I’m very proud of my well-earned wrinkles, so show ’em.

There will never be another Michael Jackson, a huge pop star since (the age of) 7.

My love for you is immeasurable, my respect for you immense. You’re ageless, timeless, lace and fineness, you’re beauty and elegance.

It was not by accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious souls.

And I’m afraid, in this day and age, trust, which I count so, you know, I love loyalty. I love trust.

I was five years old the first time I got drunk.