Duke Ellington Quotes

Quotes about:

• There are 2 rules in life:
  Number 1- Never quit
  Number2- Never forget rule number 1.

  Duke Ellington

  Numbers, Never Quit, Quitting

  158 Copy quote

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

  Duke Ellington

  Inspirational, Life, Positive

  151 Copy quote
• 

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

  Duke Ellington

  Music, Two, Jazz

  Mark Tucker, Duke Ellington (1995). “The Duke Ellington Reader”, p.326, Oxford Paperbacks

  144 Copy quote

• Put it this way: Jazz is a good barometer of freedom... In its beginnings, the United States of America 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.

  Duke Ellington

  Music, Country, Expression

  167 Copy quote

• A goal is a dream with a finish line.

  Duke Ellington

  Inspirational, Music, Dream

  70 Copy quote
• 

  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.

  Duke Ellington

  Music, Occupation, Jazz

  149 Copy quote

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

  Duke Ellington

  Inspirational, Mean Girls, Music

  1965 Of trumpeter Bubber Miley.'The Most Essential Instrument', in Jazz Journal, Dec.

  34 Copy quote

• 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.

  Duke Ellington

  Inspirational, Two, Worry

  81 Copy quote

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

  Duke Ellington

  Music, Important, Looks

  124 Copy quote

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

  Duke Ellington

  Two, Numbers

  45 Copy quote

• Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.

  Duke Ellington

  Prayer, Doe, Language

  117 Copy quote

• If you have a great band with a mediocre drummer, you have a mediocre band. If you have a mediocre band with a great drummer, you have a great band!

  Duke Ellington

  Band, Drummer, Mediocre

  127 Copy quote

• You have to stop listening in categories. The music is either good or it's bad.

  Duke Ellington

  Listening, Categories, Music Is

  106 Copy quote

• The common root, of course, comes out of Africa. That's the pulse.The African pulse. It's all the way back from . . . the old slave chants and up through the blues, the jazz, and up through rock. And it's all got the African pulse.

  Duke Ellington

  Rocks, Roots, Pulse

  96 Copy quote

• Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.

  Duke Ellington

  Taste, Be True To Yourself, Belief

  Duke Ellington (1973). “Music is my mistress”, Doubleday Books

  19 Copy quote

• Simplicity is a most complex form

  Duke Ellington

  Simplicity, Form, Complexes

  78 Copy quote

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

  Duke Ellington

  Inspirational, Music, Feel Good

  18 Copy quote

• There is no art without intention.

  Duke Ellington

  Music, Art, Jazz

  20 Copy quote

• Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.

  Duke Ellington

  Reflection, Music Is

  69 Copy quote

• How can anyone expect to be understood unless he presents his thoughts with complete honesty? This situation is unfair because it asks too much of the world. In effect, we say, ' I don't dare show you what I am because I don't trust you for a minute but please love me anyway because I so need you to. And, of course, if you don't love me anyway, you're a dirty dog, just as I suspected, so I was right in the first place.' Yet, every time God's children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened.

  Duke Ellington

  Dog, Children, Honesty

  Duke Ellington (1973). “Music is my mistress”, Doubleday Books

  123 Copy quote
• 

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

  Duke Ellington

  Love, Nice, Unconditional Acceptance

  Duke Ellington (1973). “Music is my mistress”, Doubleday Books

  93 Copy quote

• Problems are chances for us to do our best.

  Duke Ellington

  Chance, Problem

  15 Copy quote

• You've got to find a way of saying it without saying it.

  Duke Ellington

  Way

  81 Copy quote

• It is becoming increasingly difficult to decide where jazz starts or where it stops, where Tin Pan Alley begins and jazz ends, or even where the borderline lies between between classical music and jazz. I feel there is no boundary line

  Duke Ellington

  Music, Lying, Tin Pan Alley

  Duke Ellington (1973). “Music is my mistress”, Doubleday Books

  36 Copy quote

• Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.

  Duke Ellington

  Sweet, Littles, Dirt

  26 Copy quote

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