Duke Ellington Quotes: Reflecting on the Wisdom of a Jazz Legend

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

Gray skies are just clouds passing over.

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

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

I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.

The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.

Love is supreme and unconditional. Like is nice, but limited.

You’ve got to find some way of saying it without saying it.

The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.

My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never.

There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.

The artist must forget the audience, forget the critics, forget the technique, forget everything but love for the music.

Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.

Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.

If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don’t want it.

Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfish is isolation. Fish got to swim, birds got to fly.

Critics get a little carried away with what someone should have done, rather than what he did.

Duke Ellington Quotes: Reflecting on the Wisdom of a Jazz Legend part 2

Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

Every man prays in his own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.

Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don’t want it.

I don’t believe in categories of any kind, and when you speak of problems between blacks and whites in the U.S.A. you are referring to categories again.

The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.

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

There are two kinds of worries – those you can do something about and those you can’t. Don’t spend any time on the latter.

Love is supreme and unconditional. Like is nice, but limited.

There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.

Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.

Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.

There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.

Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfish is ‘I’m doing it my way.’ Unselfish is ‘what can I do for you?’

I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

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.

Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don’t want it.

The wise musicians are those who can play what they want to play.

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.

I make noise, and why make noise if no one listens?

There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.

On becoming more acquainted with the word of the Bible, I began to understand so much more of what I had been taught, and of what I had learned about life and about the people in mine.

I don’t need time. What I need is a deadline.

Music is the tone of voice we love to hear. Hear it in the speech of one in love.

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

Put it this way: Jazz is a good barometer of freedom…In its beginnings, the United States spawned certain ideals of freedom and independence through which, eventually, jazz was evolved, and the music is so free that many people say it is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country.

There are two kinds of worries – those you can do something about and those you can’t. Don’t spend any time on the latter.

My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never.

Jazz is a music of freedom and wonder. It’s our indigenous art form, and it’s a vital part of American history.