You’ve got to find a way of saying it without saying it.
DUKE ELLINGTONIf it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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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.
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There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.
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I don’t need time. What I need is a deadline!
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Simplicity is a most complex form.
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There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.
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A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
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The artist must say it without saying it.
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It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
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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.
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People do not retire. They are retired by others.
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Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
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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!
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Problems are chances for us to do our best.
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Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
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New York is a place where the rich walk, the poor drive Cadillacs, and beggars die of malnutrition with thousands of dollars hidden in their mattresses.
DUKE ELLINGTON






