black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit. Number2- Never forget rule number 1.

Duke Ellington

There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!
DUKE ELLINGTON

Money Myself Pay Togetherness
There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit. Number2- Never forget rule number 1.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Forget Inspirational Life Rule
The Europeans who went to Africa came back with “modern’ art. What is more African than a Picasso?
DUKE ELLINGTON

Art Creativity Modern
Gray skies are just clouds passing over.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Cloud Pass Sky
New music? Hell, there’s been no new music since Stravinsky.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Hell Music Time
Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Beautiful Music Reflection
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?
DUKE ELLINGTON

Interest Music Problem Yourself
You have to stop listening in categories. The music is either good or it’s bad.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Bad Category Goodness Listening Stop
Jazz today, as always in the past, is a matter of thoughtful creation, not mere unaided instinct.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Creation Instinct Past Thinking
If anybody was Mr. Jazz it was Louis Armstrong. He was the epitome of jazz and always will be. He is what I call an American standard, an American original.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Epitome Music Original Standard
Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Bond Friendship Myself Right
Dancing is very important to people who play music with a beat. I think that people who don’t dance, or who never did dance, don’t really understand the beat. I know musicians who don’t and never did dance, and they have difficulty communicating.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Communication Dance Important Myself People
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind the only yardstick by which the result should be judged is simply that of how it sounds. If it sounds good it’s successful; if it doesn’t it has failed.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Failure Kind Music Result Success
Every man prays in his own language.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Himself Language Man Prayer
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Best Chance Problem Yourself
Simplicity is a most complex form.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Complex Form Simplicity

There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit. Number2- Never forget rule number 1.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit. Number2- Never forget rule number 1.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Duke Ellington Quotes