Your ethnic or sexual identity, what region of the country you're from, what your class is - those aspects of your identity are not the same as your aesthetic identity.
Stanley CrouchYou must be willing to accept the fact that pain is a part of the process of revelation.
Stanley CrouchOur democratic richness arrives when we're able to comprehend our collective humanity accurately.
Stanley CrouchAbove all else, [Benny Goodman] was a great player, one of the greatest American music has produced. He brought his absolute talent and his invincible love of music to the fore every time he played. There are many other things connected to society and ethnicity that are often mentioned in a discussion of Benny Goodman but all of them are connected to his overwhelming affection for the art of the music and the fairness it should be allowed to express.
Stanley Crouch