Thelonious Monk

[on Ornette Coleman] Man, that cat is nuts!

I’m famous… ain’t that a bitch?

The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.

I find my inspiration in myself.

Play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing even if it does take them 15, 20 years.

Jazz is freedom. You think about that.

If you really understand the meaning of be-bop, you understand the meaning of freedom.

I do not wear my emotions on my sleeve; I write about them.

To play piano is a significant part of my life, my existence. It fulfills a very physical and spiritual need for me.

Jazz musicians are the only workers who will put in a full shift for pay and then go somewhere else and continue to work for free.

An artist should write for himself and not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

As long as musicians have passion for spontaneity and creating something that’s never been before, Jazz will flourish.

If you don’t know what it is, don’t mess with it.

The only award I’ve ever worked for or wanted really were the ones that were given to me by the fans. So, whether it’s a platinum record or hit songs, those are the ones that last the most.

The drummer; he inspired me to play like no one else I have ever met.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

The first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes.

Jazz music has become academic. Sometimes that doesn’t feel right to me.

I wanted to do the music, but not at the expense of being happy.

This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.

I’ve never thought the blues was a matter of copying other people. The blues singer should sing songs about his own life. And once the ball got rolling, I felt confident enough to do that as well as cover other people’s songs, and the tributes. You’ve got to think about representing your own life in the music, and for me that meant bringing in an element of jazz; I was brought up on jazz, it was my father’s work, it was in the house.