Do something that will last and be beautiful. It doesn't have to be a bridge-or a symphony or book or a business. It could be the look in the eye of a child you raise or a simple garden you tend. Do something that will last and be beautiful.

History isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are.

I don't think that there has been a film that I've done that hasn't been influenced by libraries and archives.

Do not lose your enthusiasm. In its Greek etymology, the word enthusiasm means, "God in us."

We strain to listen to the ghosts and echoes of our inexpressibly wise past, and we have an obligation to maintain these places, to provide these sanctuaries, so that people may be in the presence of forces larger than those of the moment.

The only art form that Americans have created that's recognized around the world is jazz music born in a community that had the peculiar experience of being unfree in a free land.

The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution to the arts.