- Quincy Jones: You only live 26,000 days. And so, I'm telling you, I'm gonna wear all of them out. And if I get to 80, that'll be 29,000. I'm gonna wear 'em all out, you know? They're gonna know... we came through here.
- Quincy Jones: When you come back, all of the dreams you have, you say, "You'd better go for it, now," you know? You can't put that off, you know. It's not-- I'd rather say, uh, "I'm sorry I did," rather than "I wish I had," you know?
- Quincy Jones: My feeling is always leave at least 20 or 30 percent of room for the Lord to walk through the room. Because, you know, then you're leaving room for the magic and, uh, records are about capturing magic, real magical moments, you know, at that time, and capturing them on tape, you know. I think that's what communicates, is the magic of the moment. And... love is the other word, too. When the love is in the studio, because that contributes more to magic in the studio than anything else.
- Quincy Jones: Count Basie was like a father to me. "Learn to deal with the valleys, Quincy," he advised. "The hills will take care of themselves."
- Quincy Jones: [about Sinatra] I loved him, man. I know he loved me too. In all the years working together, just like with Ray Charles, we never once had a contract... just a handshake.
- Quincy Jones: I gotta tell you, I wish everybody here... a long, long, long-ass life... filled with a whole lot of, um... tons of... let's say... love to share... health to spare, and friends who care, 'cause that's really all that's important when you get down to it, to the bottom of it.
- Quincy Jones: I love how I always end up jumping into all this stuff, I can't believe it. Because it's not easy. Daddy got me to do that. He always said, "Once a... task has just begun, never leave it till it's done. Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all." Every day, he told us that.
- Quincy Jones: Vegas was mob territory back then. No black entertainer in their right mind would wander around those casino hotels alone. It was a trip 'cause Sammy Davis, or Lena Horne, Belafonte, they used to work in the big room as the stars, but they had to eat in the kitchen. They couldn't go in the casino and they had to sleep in the black hotels across town.
- Quincy Jones: You got to let go all of the past, you know, bring the good parts forward, forget about the negative stuff, and go on. Because whenever you get hung up and locked into the past, you're robbing yourself of the present... and definitely the future, you know.