Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do.

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.

Once, when we were playing at the Apollo Theater, Holiday was working a block away at the Harlem Opera House. Some of us went over between shows to catch her, and afterwards we went backstage. I did something then, and I still don't know if it was the right thing to do—I asked her for her autograph.

She is amazingly creative, bringing so much more to a song than just a singer. She is a first-class musician and the most gracious person in the world.

[On bebop years] All I did was sing 'How High the Moon.' It seemed like the only song I ever sang.

It isn't where you came from, its where you're going that counts.

Whatever she does to my songs, she always makes them sound better.