Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state ...

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

No enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need, it performs some great service, not for itself, but for others or failing therein, it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist.

I have found it advisable not to give too much heed to what people say when I am trying to accomplish something of consequence. Invariably they proclaim it can't be done. I deem that the very best time to make the effort.

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything till noon. That's when it's time for my nap.

It takes a long time to become young.

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form.

Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week.

I'm at peace with myself and where I am. In the past, I was always looking to see how everybody else was doing. I wasn't competitive, I was comparative. I just wanted to be where everybody else was. Now I've gotten to an age when I am not comparing anymore.

Peace is the one condition of survival in this nuclear age.

The true and solid peace of nations consists not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone.

We gave up some of our country to the white men, thinking that then we could have peace. We were mistaken. The white man would not let us alone.

With the song 'This Christmas' I wanted to do something that was kind of different. I mean, Donny Hathaway is an amazing artist. So I wanted to bring my flavor to the song so when people over the age of 45 or 50 hear it they'll be like 'OK, he did his thing with that record.' It's like I can appeal to everybody and not just a younger demographic.

My mother was a professional sick person she took a lot of pain pills. There are many people like that. It's just how they are used to getting attention. I always remember she's the daughter of alcoholics who'd leave her alone at Christmas time.

'The Christmas Song,' by Nat King Cole, is not only a masterful performance to me it just sounds like the holidays. I've never sung it, because Nat's version is so perfect. I gotta leave it alone.

Christmas lights may be the loneliest thing for me, especially if you mix them up with reindeers and sleighs. I feel alone. I feel isolated. I feel I do not belong.