Duke Ellington

Life has two rules: 1. Never quite 2. Always remember 1.

A goal is a dream with a finish line.

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.

Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.

By and large Jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.

Music, of course, is what I hear and something that I more or less live by. It’s not an occupation or profession, it’s a compulsion.

Jazz is not a what, it is a how.

Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.

Music is the most fantastic drug there is!

[Stratocaster vs Les Paul] It’s a totally different animal. One is for very subtle and, I would say, more musical things that you can distract and abuse. You can’t do that with a Les Paul. It’s too delicate. It’s got a very delicate tone; most people don’t ever realize that because they are plugged into monstrous amplifiers which completely, instantaneously covers up the unique sound quality it has. All those years of development go straight out the window when you overload the amp.

Music must be an innovation.

I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.

One shouldn’t be in the habit of quoting oneself.

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz.

If you want to play somebody’s music, you’d better go into his house.

Do not fear mistakes, there are none.

I’ve never written a political song. Songs can’t save the world. I’ve gone through all that.

I say, ‘Play your own way. Don’t play what the public wants. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you’re doing – even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years’.

You give up your own personality when you imitate somebody.

At times as a performer they segregated us in some of theatres.

I’ve always tried to defend the idea that the blues doesn’t have to be sung by a person who comes from Mississippi, as I did.