Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.
DUKE ELLINGTONA Satin Doll is a woman who is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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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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New music? Hell, there’s been no new music since Stravinsky.
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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 never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.
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The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.
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Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.
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Every man prays in his own language.
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Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
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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 don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
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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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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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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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Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
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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.
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What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
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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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Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
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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.
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Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
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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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It’s like an act of murder – you play with intent to commit something.
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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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A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
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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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Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.
DUKE ELLINGTON