“The self is known to every one but not clearly. You always exist.”

All unhappiness is due to the ego. With it comes all your trouble. If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it you would be free.

All are seeing God always. But they do not know it.

Happiness is not to be sought in solitude or in busy centers. It is in the Self.

Why should you trouble yourself about the future? You do not even properly know about the present. Take care of the present, the future will take care of itself.

He who has realized the Self in the Heart has transcended the dualities and is never perplexed.

The Self is the heart, self-luminous. Illumination arises from the heart and reaches the brain, which is the seat of the mind. The world is seen with the mind; so you see the world by the reflected light of the Self.

When the mind is left without anything to cling to, it becomes still.

Nearly all mankind is more or less unhappy because nearly all do not know the true Self. Real happiness abides in Self-knowledge alone. All else is fleeting. To know one’s Self is to be blissful always.

Time is only an idea. There is only the Reality. Whatever you think it is, it looks like that.

The Self itself is the world; the Self itself is ‘I’; the Self itself is God; all is Siva, the Self.

Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world. The Sun is simply bright. It does not correct anyone. Because it shines, the whole world is full of light. Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world.

The ultimate truth is so simple. It is nothing more than being in the pristine state. This is all that needs to be said. Only mature minds can grasp the simple truth in all its nakedness.

The fact is that you are not the body. The Self does not move but the world moves in it. You are only what you are.

If you observe awareness steadily, this awareness itself becomes the Guru that will reveal the Truth.

Take no notice of the ego and its activities, but see only the light behind.

Let what comes come, let what goes go.

I’m not messing around with nobody’s woman. If I want a woman I go get her – you know what I mean?

I don’t like to hear someone put down dixieland. Those people who say there’s no music but bop are just stupid; it shows how much they don’t know.

Artt Frank is my all-time favorite drummer. He always seems to know where I’m going.

White folks always think that you have to have a label on everything – you know what I mean?

In a way, it’s nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong.

[Jazz musicians] feel comfortable with their clichés, you know.

Whatever I’d say would be an understatement. I can only say my life was made much better by knowing him. He was one of the greatest people I’ve ever known, as a man, a friend, and a musician.

The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.