We looked up to our father. He still is much greater than us.

Through first-class education, a generation marches down the long uncertain road of the future with confidence.

Don't wish for someone else to do later what you can do now.

The young very seldom lead anything in our country today. It's been quite some time since a younger generation pushed an older one to a higher standard.

Jazz is not the kind of music you are going to learn to play in three or four years or that you can just get because you have some talent for music.

I never minded giving my opinions. They are just opinions, and I had studied music and I had strong feelings. I was happy for my opinions to join all the other opinions. But you have to be prepared for what comes back, especially if you don't agree with the dominant mythology.

Having heard Clifford Brown play all those fast runs, I used to really practice Clarke trumpet exercises all day long so that I could play fast. That's all I wanted to do. I was like a child with a toy.