How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band's lead singer, Eric Burdon. "So you're the honky," she said, "who stole my song and got a hit out of it?

Talent is a burden not a joy. I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you.

It doesn't matter to me what is going on today because my music encompasses every kind of mood that exists in human beings. That's my stick.

Music has been a burden and a joy for as long as I can remember.

Jazz is not just music, it's a way of life, it's a way of being, a way of thinking. . . . the new inventive phrases we make up to describe things - all that to me is jazz just as much as the music we play.

I made wine from the lilac tree/Put my heart in its recipe/It makes me see what I want to see/And be what I want to be