I don't like rap music at all. I don't think it's music. It's just a beat and rapping.

Slavery has never been abolished from America's way of thinking.

I'm sorry that I did not become the world's first black classic pianist. I think I would have been happier.

Life is short. People are not easy to know. They're not easy to know, so if you don't tell them how you feel, you're not going to get anywhere, I feel.

I know I'm different, but I don't think about it.

I demand perfection in what I do, and I practice very hard before I give a concert-sometimes three to six hours a day.

I try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel.