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

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

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

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

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

It amazes me when I hear people say, 'I want to go out and find out who I am.' I always knew who I was. I was going to be famous if it killed me.

I'm thankful for each and every day. We never know when time is up.

I'm thankful for performing as long as I am allowed.

I directed my music to the teen-agers. I was 30 years old when I did 'Maybellene.' My school days had long been over when I did 'School Day,' but I was thinking of them.

I love poetry. I love rhyming. Do you know, there are poets who don't rhyme? Shakespeare did not rhyme most of the time, and that's why I do not like him.

My dad was the cause of me being in show business. He was not only in poetry but in acting a bit. He was Mordecai in the play 'A Dream of Queen Esther.'

That's all there was in our house: poetry and choir rehearsal and duets and so forth; I listened to Dad and Mother discuss things about poetry and delivery and voice and diction - I don't think anyone could know how much it really means.

I could have been more famous if I did all the glitzy things, but celebrity always seemed so unnecessary.

That's what we were exploring on 'Larry Sanders' - the human qualities that have brought us to where we are now in the world: the addiction to needing more and wanting more and talking more. We were examining the labels put on success - is it successful to be on TV every day, to be famous, to have a paycheck?

I think it's one of the main negative emotional ingredients that fuels show business, because there's so much at stake and the fear of failure looms large.

Which is, I'm an optimist that two people can be together to work out their conflicts. And that commitment, I think, might be what love is, because they both grow from their relationship.

I'm dating a woman now who, evidently, is unaware of it.

Women need to know that not all guys are going to hurt them the way that the guy did before they started dating me. I know guys I wouldn't go out with.

But I really like hosting, I think it's a strength of mine. It allows me to improvise, and I love the spontaneity of that, and I think I'm funny behind the desk when interviewing someone.

I've always felt that the truth is in the silence.

I think sometimes I should do more carousing, because I don't do much and maybe it would be fun occasionally. It's hard for me to have fun and I'm a serious thinker and a searcher and funny from the front.

To be thrown onto the stand-up stage is an experience that you cannot fathom until you're actually there, because there's no place to go, and everyone is looking at you and you can't even see them because of the lights. And yet you have to manage to start talking and be funny on top of it.

There's a good chance that if you're talking to me when I'm snoring, it means I'm bored.

Humor is a wonderful way to deal with our suffering because if we can laugh at our troubles, we can feel better. Thich Nhat Hanh is a special man who has helped millions with their suffering with incredible technique. But he doesn't know real suffering, because he has not dated as much as I have.

I never wanted to be a celebrity; I never wanted to be famous. And in my daily life, I work really hard to not trade on it in any way.

One of the things that's great about New York is that it is not a one-industry town. It has education, academia, the service industry, arts, publishing, theater, politics, fashion, finance, as well as movie-making.

Can you really forgive if you can't forget?

I just wasn't one of those girls who dreamt of her wedding day and the birth of her first child.

When men attempt bold gestures, generally it's considered romantic. When women do it, it's often considered desperate or psycho.

And if you are a parent, introduce your children to their neighborhood library. It will give them a real sense of independence to have their own library card and enjoy borrowing books.

I think growing up in a big family taught me a lot of problem solving and how to share and compromise, and that's been helpful in my marriage.

I love Matthew Broderick. Call me crazy, but I love him. We can only be in the marriage we are. We're very devoted to our family and our lives. I love our life. I love that he's the father of my children, and it's because of him that there's this whole other world that I love.

It's like the riddle of the Sphinx... why are there so many great unmarried women, and no great unmarried men?

My job requires me to put on a little dress and run around the streets of New York in heels. But I also had the financial means to hire a yoga teacher to come to my house while my sitter watched the newborn. For 95 percent of the world, that's not realistic.

Men who are too good looking are never good in bed because they never had to be.

You don't become a chef to become famous.

Kids will keep it real. If I've ever had in my life a great anchor, it's them. They get in your head, 'don't get too famous.' If you think you're really famous and think you're really hip, go hang out with your kids for an afternoon. That's about as earthbound as it's going to get.

Greatness comes from fear. Fear can either shut us down and we go home, or we fight through it.

Taking time to sit back and watch and think about what you've seen is important. Traveling did a great deal to me. I found that when I travel and just sit in the corner and watch, a million ideas come to me.

I travel around the world, experiencing every language, every religion... some places where there's just no reason to smile, because their lives are so difficult.

I'm like a famous person to some people, not to everybody. I want to be big.

Every time me and A Boogie connect in the studio, it's just always good vibes. It's like me being with one of my brothers or me being with one of my cousins or my family members.

I earned my famous name.

My mother used to tell me about vibrations. I didn't really understand too much of what that meant when I was just a boy. To think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death.

Politics goes in one ear and out the other. I don't even know the president's name for sure. That's how stupid I am.

Just because you're not famous, doesn't mean you're not good.

It's always nice when you do something and it's well received as opposed to the other way which God knows happens to everybody. When the good times come around, you take a deep breath, appreciate it, but not take it too seriously.

It is always good to explore the stuff you don't agree with, to try and understand a different lifestyle or foreign worldview. I like to be challenged in that way, and always end up learning something I didn't know.

Traits like humility, courage, and empathy are easily overlooked - but it's immensely important to find them in your closest relationships.

You know when someone's over-flattering you in a way. You smile but you can't believe it.