Quotes from Jon Gordon

I would sit in at a jazz brunch [at sweet Basil] with Eddie Chamblee, who was a great tenor player. Really a kind man. The whole band was great.

We still talk about [school band]. Almost 40 years later. It's like people are talking about, "Man we need to have a morning band reunion".

There were a lot of great things you could go and hear for very little money at the time [ '80s]. Mike Stern is still playing at the 55 Bar on Mondays or Wednesdays.

Positivity is like a boomerang. The more we put it out there, the more it comes back to us.

Only through service and sacrifice can you become great.

You can't be a great leader if all you are serving is yourself.

Anyone who attempts to build great things will face challenges.

Dust on gold doesn't change the nature of gold.

Adversity is not a dead end but a detour to a better outcome than you can imagine!

Challenges ONLY make you STRONGER!!!

Don't let negative people drain your energy. Focus on your positive energy and kill them with kindness. Energy vampires are no match for your positive energy.

Every morning you have a choice. Are you going to be a positive thinker or a negative thinker? Positive thinking will energize you.

When you experience resistance, you find the lessons that you are meant to learn

I don't want my children to be what I want them to be. I want them to become everything God created them to be.

If you go with that spirit, good things will come for you. If you go into it with an assumption that you're a genius and that you're entitled to something, it's a little tougher.

I had a really nice association with Richie DeRosa, a great musician, a great drummer and composer and arranger. And I had a number of classes with him.

You hear about the struggles with substances and all that, but [Phil Wood] was a really a great guy. This was a great man.

[Phil Wood] was a great artist, and he knew things. He could be mildly conversant in several languages.

Connection to the music and the history was very powerful to me. I think that's what I feel the most blessed about.

Failure is not meant to be final and fatal.... It is meant to refine you to be all that you are meant to be.

My life is a gift not an obligation and I Get To make the most of it.

Remember, you have only one ride through life so give it all you got and enjoy the ride.

Throughout the day, anytime you find yourself feeling stressed or wanting to complain, stop for 10 seconds and breathe. Count your breaths and your blessings.

So often the difference between success and failure is belief. Belief leads to action and execution.