Above 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.

What we need in America is a renaissance. We need to go forward by going backward.

Everybody has to be reminded that there's another way to be. Another more mysterious, unpredictable way to be that's not necessarily based upon contrivances.

People don't really think other people are the same.

In America, we have to learn to be patient enough to figure out what somebody is saying. Somebody might actually be saying something.

If you're going to get in the ring and try to take the belt, you have to prepare to get hit.

Louis Armstrong, who learned to be in exquisite dress, came from the bottom, and he's not a trash can.