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.
DUKE ELLINGTONI 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.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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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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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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Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself.
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Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
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Gray skies are just clouds passing over.
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The artist must say it without saying it.
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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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It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
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A Satin Doll is a woman who is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside.
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A musical profit outweighs a financial loss.
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Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
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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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Every man prays in his own language.
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Everybody in Canada seemed to listen to what they enjoyed, and nobody could tell them what to like, or what was the popular, or what was the In thing. Even today, it is very hard to brainwash a Canadian.
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Jazz today, as always in the past, is a matter of thoughtful creation, not mere unaided instinct.
DUKE ELLINGTON