For me, music is in no way ornamental or decorative, it's constitutive of who I am.

We have to be self-critical even in context that we might be critical of, even as we - our pieces appear in it.

You must let suffering speak, if you want to hear the truth

There is no such thing as institutional conditions without any individual actions and no such thing as individual action without institutional conditions. So there is always personal responsibility.

I would want to conceive of philosophy as grounded in the very long humanist tradition that is the best of the West, which is open to the East and North and South.

It takes tremendous discipline, takes tremendous courage, to think for yourself, to examine yourself.

The blues aren’t pessimistic. We’re prisoners of hope but we tell the truth and the truth is dark.