My goal is to live the truly religious life, and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there’s no problem because the music is part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am – my faith, my knowledge, my being.
JOHN COLTRANEAny time you play your horn, it helps you. If you get down, you can help yourself even in a rock ‘n’ roll band.
More John Coltrane Quotes
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I think music is an instrument. It can create the initial thought patterns that can change the thinking of people.
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I believe that men are here to grow themselves into the best good that they can be – at least, this is what I want to do.
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I want to be the force which is truly for good.
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I want to be a force for real good. In other words, I know there are bad forces. You know, I know that there are forces out here that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.
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I’d like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.
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Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music as if for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Being so inescapably a part of it, I’ll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels, and that’s too bad.
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Starting in the middle of a musical sentence and moving in both directions at once.
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I never even thought about whether or not they understand what I’m doing, the emotional reaction is all that matters as long as there’s some feeling of communication, it isn’t necessary that it be understood.
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All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.
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Invest yourself in everything you do. There’s fun in being serious.
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My music is the spiritual expression of what I am: my faith, my knowledge, my being.
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Working with Monk is like falling down a dark elevator shaft.
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Whatever I’d say would be an understatement. I can only say my life was made much better by knowing him. He was one of the greatest people I’ve ever known, as a man, a friend, and a musician.
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Any time you play your horn, it helps you. If you get down, you can help yourself even in a rock ‘n’ roll band.
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Considering the great heritage in music that we have – the work of the giants of the past, the present, and the promise of those who are to come – I feel that we have every reason to face the future optimistically.
JOHN COLTRANE