A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers.

The joy of music should never be interrupted by a commercial.

What [Louis Armstrong] does is real, and true, and honest, and simple, and even noble. Every time this man puts his trumpet to his lips, even if only to practice three notes, he does it with his whole soul.

Music, of all the arts, stands in a special region, unlit by any star but its own, and utterly without meaning ... except its own.

When the study of the arts leads to the adoration of the formula (heaven forbid), we shall be lost.

The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another... and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.

From New Year's on the outlook brightens; good humor lost in a mood of failure returns. I resolve to stop complaining.