I've looked at life from both sides now...from win and lose, and still somehow it's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life at all.

I never really wanted to be a star. I didn't like entering a room with all eyes on me. I still don't really like the attention of a birthday party.

Ask anyone in America where the craziest people live and they'll tell you California. Ask anyone in California where the craziest people live and they'll say Los Angeles. Ask anyone in Los Angeles where the craziest people live and they'll tell you Hollywood. Ask anyone in Hollywood where the craziest people live and they'll say Laurel Canyon. And ask anyone in Laurel Canyon where the craziest people live and they'll say Lookout Mountain. So I bought a house on Lookout Mountain.

My individual, psychological descent coincided, ironically, with my ascent into the public eye.

An unhappy mother does not raise a happy child.

My family could only afford to get me the box of eight Crayola crayons, but I craved the one with all 24 colours. I wanted magenta and turquoise and silver and gold.

Not to dismiss Gershwin, but Gershwin is the chip; Ellington was the block.