My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man's thinking.

I've done some things I wish I could erase. . . . I invented mistakes. But the mistakes must be seen in context, and they must be weighed along with the positives.

Real success is not on the stage, but off the stage as a human being, and how you get along with your fellow man.

Talk about handicap - I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew.

I have a respect for Elvis and my friendship. It ain't my business what he did in private. The only thing I want to know is, 'Was he my friend?', 'Did I enjoy him as a performer?', 'Did he give the world of entertainment something?' - and the answer is YES on all accounts. The other jazz just don't matter.

You have to be able to look back at your life and say, "Yeah, that was fun."

You can be in this business 50 years and still not know anything about it.