"The only prejudice I've found anywhere in TV is in some advertising agencies, and there isn't so much prejudice as just fear."

"People don't slip. Time catches up with them."

"I'm not playing for other musicians. We're trying to reach the guy who works all day and wants to spend a buck at night. We'll keep him happy."

"You've got to change with the public's taste."

"I am an American citizen and feel I am entitled to the same rights as any other citizen."

"I'm a musician at heart, I know I'm not really a singer. I couldn't compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it."

"If I could read it, I could play it."

"Primarily I'm a meat man, although once in a while I toy with a few vegetables."

"I make no claim to being a business genius. You can make so much money in this business that it loses its value."

"Music is emotional, and you may catch a musician in a very unemotional mood or you may not be in the same frame of mind as the musician. So a critic will often say a musician is slipping."

"Get me well so I can get on television and tell people to stop smoking."

"Only time, education and plenty of good schooling will make anti-segregation work."

"I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist."

"The people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it."

"For years the Trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We practically starved to death."

"The Supreme Court is having a hard time integrating schools. What chance do I have to integrate audiences?"

"There's just one thing I can't figure out. My income tax!"

"I'm in the music business for one purpose - to make money."

"I may be helping to bring harmony between people through my music."

"I was a guinea pig for some hoodlums who thought they could hurt me and frighten me and keep other Negro entertainers from the South."

"I often wonder whether Negroes like myself who are pretty well known help out at all in breaking down barriers."

"I'm proud of our court. It knocks back a lot of the propaganda the Communists put out about the way America treats her Negroes."

"It's not the people in the South who create racial problems - it's the people who are governing."

"The only sport I'm not interested in is horse racing. That's because I don't know the horses personally."

"I can't bear to see myself even in movies. The feeling is complex. I can't stand the sight of myself."

"The whites come to applaud a Negro performer just like the colored do. When you've got the respect of white and colored, you can ease a lot of things."