John Coltrane quotes

I want to be a force for real good. In other words, I know there are bad forces. You know, I know that there are forces out here that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good. (John Coltrane)
God breathes through us so completely...So gently we hardly feel it...yet it is our everything.
John Coltrane
All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.
John Coltrane
I'd like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.
John Coltrane
Keep a thing happenin' all throughout.
John Coltrane
I thought about this question. I answered it as best I could [at the press conference]. I felt I didn't tell [the reporter] what I really wanted to say. He thought I was Christian. And I am by birth; my parents were and my early teachings were Christian. But as I look upon the world, I feel all men know the truth. If a man was a Christian, he could know the truth and he could not. The truth itself does not have any name on it. And each man has to find it for himself, I think.
John Coltrane
Rushin' Lullaby.
John Coltrane
All of the technique doesn't matter... only if the feeling is right.
John Coltrane
I think I was first awakened to musical exploration by Dizzy Gillespie and Bird. It was through their work that I began to learn about musical structures and the more theoretical aspects of music.
John Coltrane
I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once.
John Coltrane
My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith, my knowledge, my being. (John Coltrane)
You can play a shoestring if you're sincere.
John Coltrane
I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe.
John Coltrane
I think music is an instrument. It can create the initial thought patterns that can change the thinking of the people.
John Coltrane
I believe that men are here to grow themselves into best good that they can be - at least, this is what I want to do.
John Coltrane
I've always felt that even though a man was not a Christian, he still has to know the truth some way or another. Or if he was a Christian, he could know the truth. The truth itself doesn't have any name on it to me. And each man has to find this for himself, I think.
John Coltrane
My goal is to live the truly religious life and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there's no problem because the music is just part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am-my faith, my knowledge, my being.
John Coltrane
Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music as if for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Being so inescapably a part of it, I'll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels, and that's too bad.
John Coltrane
One positive thought produces millions of positive vibrations.
John Coltrane
Invest yourself in everything you do. There's fun in being serious.
John Coltrane
Damn the rules, it's the feeling that counts. (John Coltrane)
Don't ever get so big or important that you can not hear and listen to every other person.
John Coltrane
The real risk is not changing. I have to feel that I'm after something. If I make money, fine. But I'd rather be striving. It's the striving, man, it's that I want.
John Coltrane
There is never any end... There are always new sounds to imagine; new feelings to get at. And always, there is the need to keep purifying these feelings and sounds so that we can really see what we've discovered in its pure state.
John Coltrane
All a musician can do is to get closer to the source.
John Coltrane