Carlos Santana

I’m not a survivor. Survivor comes from saying you barely made it and you’re a victim. I am triumphant. I’m not a survivor.

The secret of life is to validate your existence.

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

I became a singer to sing my songs. They’re so hip who else is going to sing them?

This guitar is such a pal. It’s a psychiatrist. It’s a doggone bartender. It’s a housewife. This guy is everything. Whenever I find that I’ve got a problem, I’ll go pick my guitar up and play. It’s the greatest pal in the whole world.

You can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling.

Bebop was about change, about evolution. It wasn’t about standing still and being safe.

I got a chance to listen to and watch Thelonious Monk and his quartet play two shows a night, for six weeks. It was a great education. There was my university, man.

It is Jazz’s very nature to change, to develop and adapt to the circumstances of its environment.

One of the reasons we’re here is to be a part of this process of exchange.

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out.

In classical music, only two people are important, the composer and the conductor. Everybody else is a serf. In jazz, a thing of beauty is created collectively with everybody getting to express an idea. And that reflects what democratic society is – or should be.

When you just get mixed up and there’s too much going on, then it’s time to pick up your guitar.

It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.

Breathe…. breathe a lot!

Count don’t do nothin’. But it sure sounds good.

I expect the audience to come up to my level.