Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.

Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.

Americans are immensely popular in Paris; and this is not due solely to the fact that they spend lots of money there, for they spend just as much or more in London, and in the latter city they are merely tolerated because they do spend.

It is strange how in some things honest people can be dishonest without the slightest compunction.

In Berlin I especially enjoyed the orchestral concerts, and I attended a large number of them. I formed the acquaintance of a good many musicians, several of whom spoke of my playing in high terms.

The battle was first waged over the right of the Negro to be classed as a human being with a soul; later, as to whether he had sufficient intellect to master even the rudiments of learning; and today it is being fought out over his social recognition.

It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives it most distinctive characteristics.