Ella Fitzgerald

The only thing better than singing is more singing.

A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside… I’m going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do.

I guess what everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved. And to know that you loved me for my singing is too much for me. Forgive me if I don’t have all the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.

I sing like I feel.

Forgive me if I don’t have the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.

I’m very shy, and I shy away from people. But the moment I hit the stage, it’s a different feeling I get nerve from somewhere; maybe it’s because it’s something I love to do.

Three months. I was playing the organ for three months. It was a challenge for me in the beginning.

Jazz is restless. It won’t stay put and it never will.

The thing I always default to is that I’ll always be here to write songs.

I play the way I do cause it allows me to come up w/ the sickest sounds possible. That’s the point now isn’t it?

I often wonder whether Negroes like myself who are pretty well known help out at all in breaking down barriers.

My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

It’s important to reflect on what made Jazz so special.

But I have always suspected that one could substitute the Minuet of Haydn’s 98th symphony for the Minuet in Haydn’s 99th symphony without sensing a serious lack of coherence in either work.

Music is to the soul what water is to the body.

I am a devout musician.

They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.

Music is a calling that you must bring your best to, whether listening, practicing or performing.

I never practice my guitar. From time to time I just open the case and throw in a piece of raw meat.

There’s such a cynicism about the phrase ‘I laughed all the way to the bank.’ It’s as though money is what you’re doing, rather than playing music. If you’re playing a money game, why not get into banking?

You gotta love livin’, baby, ’cause dyin’ is a pain in the ass.