It’s like an act of murder – you play with intent to commit something.
DUKE ELLINGTONBe a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
-
-
Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
I don’t need time, I need a deadline.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Every man prays in his own language.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Jazz is a good barometer of freedom.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Problems are chances for us to do our best.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit. Number2- Never forget rule number 1.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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 -
Simplicity is a most complex form.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.
DUKE ELLINGTON






