Duke Ellington quotes

A problem is your chance to do your best. (Duke Ellington)
By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with. View quote
Duke Ellington
It's like an act of murder; you play with intent to commit something. View quote
Duke Ellington
I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues. View quote
Duke Ellington
Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it. View quote
Duke Ellington
Playing "bop" is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing. View quote
Duke Ellington
Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be too famous too young. View quote
Duke Ellington
Roaming through the jungle of oohs and ahs, searching for a more agreeable noise, I live a life of primitivity with the mind of a child and an unquenchable thirst for sharps and flats. View quote
Duke Ellington
People do not retire. They are retired by others. View quote
Duke Ellington
You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it. View quote
Duke Ellington
Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited. (Duke Ellington)
The wise musicians are those who play what they can master. View quote
Duke Ellington
Gray skies are just clouds passing over. View quote
Duke Ellington
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. View quote
Duke Ellington
Every man prays in his own language. View quote
Duke Ellington
How can anyone expect to be understood unless he presents his thoughts with complete honesty? This situation is unfair because it asks too much of the world. In effect, we say, "I don't dare show you what I am because I don't trust you for a minute but please love me anyway because I so need you to. And, of course, if you don't love me anyway, you're a dirty dog, just as I suspected, so I was right in the first place." Yet, every time God's children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened. View quote
Duke Ellington
A man is a god in ruins. View quote
Duke Ellington
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing). View quote
Duke Ellington
I don't need time, I need a deadline. View quote
Duke Ellington
There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit Number2- Never forget rule number 1. View quote
Duke Ellington
There are two kinds of worries - those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter. (Duke Ellington)
There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone. View quote
Duke Ellington
Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees. View quote
Duke Ellington
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. View quote
Duke Ellington
On becoming more acquainted with the word of the Bible, I began to understand so much more of what I had been taught, and of what I had learned about life and about the people in mine. View quote
Duke Ellington