Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
DUKE ELLINGTONFate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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I don’t need time. What I need is a deadline!
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Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.
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Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
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You have to stop listening in categories. The music is either good or it’s bad.
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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.
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Yet, every time God’s children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened.
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Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself.
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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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The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.
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Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.
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It’s like an act of murder – you play with intent to commit something.
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It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
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The Europeans who went to Africa came back with “modern’ art. What is more African than a Picasso?
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There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.
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Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
DUKE ELLINGTON