Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
DUKE ELLINGTONSing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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I like any and all of my associations with music: writing, playing, and listening. We write and play from our perspective, and the audience listens from its perspective. If and when we agree, I am lucky.
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Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.
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Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfishness is essential to survival, and without survival we cannot protect those whom we love more than ourselves.
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I fluffed off the guy who kept requesting tunes all night, then found out he was the King’s son.
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Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
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Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.
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A musical profit outweighs a financial loss.
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My mother told me I was blessed, and I have always taken her word for it. Being born of – or reincarnated from – royalty is nothing Like being blessed. Royalty is inherited from another human being; blessedness comes from God.
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Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
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A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
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Critics have their purposes, and they’re supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what they did.
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Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.
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Without a deadline, baby, I wouldn’t do nothing.
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My biggest kick in music -playing or writing- is when I have a problem. Without a problem to solve, how much interest do you take in anything?
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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