I played the trumpet a bit like a porker, I think.

There are only two things: love, all sorts of love, with pretty girls, and the music of New Orleans or Duke Ellington. Everything else ought to go, because everything else is ugly.

The three great moments of my life had to be the concerts of Ellington in 1938, Dizzy in '48, and Ella in '52.

I played the trumpet a bit like a porker, I think.

The problem is the following, black music is increasing encumbered by white elements, often pleasant but always superfluous, easily and advantageously replaced with black elements.

Of course, it's fun to play with Blacks.

One ends up relying on pure musical inspiration, and failing that, the music won't lead to anything good, or it will alienate all but the most die-hard fans.

Without jazz, life would be a mistake.

Wormholes don't exist because the only way they would exist is if they were seeded with exotic material created by an intelligence far beyond our own. Something would have to make one.

Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.

I'm a yarn teller. My job is to engage you as much as I can and as often as I can.

Women, like men, ought to have their youth so glutted with freedom they hate the very idea of freedom.

A family portrait is only complete with love to fill its frame.

The folly of endless consumerism sends us on a wild goose chase for happiness through materialism.

I'm known as a dramatic actor. But because I don't do a lot of comedy, I love watching it because I can really immerse myself in it and not think.

Reasonable, even intelligent people can, and frequently do, disagree on how best to achieve peace in the Middle East, but, peace must be the goal of our foreign policy tools, whether they be by the stick or by the carrot.

The thing I really love about film is there's a really big sense of teamwork, and everyone has to do their job to the best of their ability to make the film work in the first place.

I feel I'm all over my movies. I know my movies are all over me.

As Indiana's governor, I balanced eight budgets, never raised taxes, and left the largest surplus in state history. It wasn't always easy. Cuts had to be made and some initiatives deferred. Occasionally I had to say 'no.'

I don't want to tell people what I make. It's a lot more than I ever dreamed of as a kid. I never think about it.

I just hope that people, women specifically, embrace that side of themselves that maybe is a little nuts or that society tells us is crazy.

Being in South Africa, that messed up my body a little bit. I broke out in spots, and I got really dehydrated, and the water was really different. It was really strange, because you're on the other side of the planet, and you think, 'Oh, water is the same everywhere,' and it is, but it still felt strange.

I was a guy who abandoned a TV show. I didn't care about people.

The writing of 'Topdog' was a great gift. I feel the play came to me because I realized that my circumstances, while causing me despair and heartbreak, also held great possibility, if only I could see it.

Old friends become bitter enemies on a sudden for toys and small offenses.

All I want is a gentleman. I'm sick to bloody death of bastards.

I thought they know that I was the Commander in Chief, not that I know that I am the Commander in Chief, and they should behave; know how to behave to the Commander in Chief.

I've read in a couple stories that I was raised Episcopalian, but that's not true. I think that's just people assuming things. In some ways, I wish I was raised Episcopalian. I was kind of raised hodgepodge.

The essence of the conservative message should be we want a dynamic nation where anybody with nothing can achieve anything.

Nobody asked you to flip burgers for the rest of your life.

No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dreams that you wish will come true.

Maybe I'll go to acting school. Acting is like boxing, you know.