"There are forces all around you who wish to exploit division, rob you of your freedom, and tell you what to think. But young folks can rekindle the weary spirit of a slumbering nation."

"People have taken time out of their day and spent their money to come sit down at a concert. And it's jazz music-it's not easy for them to get to it. I don't want them ever to feel that I'm taking their presence lightly."

"Through first-class education, a generation marches down the long uncertain road of the future with confidence."

"I dress up a certain way because I respect the music."

"It sounds like something from a Woody Guthrie song, but it's true I was raised in a freight car."

"Men, even when alone, lighten their labors by song, however rude it may be."

"The decision to write in prose instead of poetry is made more by the readers than by writers. Almost no one is interested in reading narrative in verse."

"When the going got tough, I really had to draw on many of the same competitive instincts I did when I was skating. I really had to put my head down and stay positive. I had to fight."