George Gershwin quotes

Life is a lot like jazz - it's best when you improvise. (George Gershwin)
I frequently hear music in the heart of noise. View quote
George Gershwin
Not many composers have ideas. Far more of them know how to use strange instruments which do not require ideas. View quote
George Gershwin
The composer does not sit around and wait for an inspiration to walk up and introduce itself...Making music is actually little else than a matter of invention aided and abetted by emotion. In composing we combine what we know of music with what we feel. View quote
George Gershwin
I like to think of music as an emotional science. View quote
George Gershwin
Jazz I regard as an American folk music; not the only one, but a very powerful one which is probably in the blood and feeling of the American people more than any other style of folk music. View quote
George Gershwin
When jazz is played in another nation, it is called American. When it is played in another country, it sounds false. Jazz is the result of the energy stored up in America. View quote
George Gershwin
The European boys have small ideas but they sure know how to dress 'em up. View quote
George Gershwin
A skyscraper is at the same time a triumph of the machine and a tremendous emotional experience, almost breath-taking. Not merely its height but its mass and proportions are the result of an emotion, as well as of calculation. View quote
George Gershwin
True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. View quote
George Gershwin
It is always possible to create something original. (George Gershwin)
An entire composition written in jazz could not live. View quote
George Gershwin
All great composers of the past spent most of their time studying. Feeling alone won't do the job. A man also needs technique. View quote
George Gershwin
Modern European composers ... have very largely received their stimulus, their rhythms and impulses from Machine Age America. They have a much older tradition of musical technique which has helped them put into musical terms a little more clearly the thoughts that originated here. They can express themselves more glibly. View quote
George Gershwin
Originality is the only thing that counts. But the originator uses material and ideas that occur round him and pass through him. And out of his experience comes the original creation. View quote
George Gershwin
Jazz is one of the best things that you can find in your life, it can always be your friend. View quote
George Gershwin
Music sets up certain vibration which unquestionably results in a physical reaction. Eventually the proper vibration for every person will be found and utilized. View quote
George Gershwin
Why should I limit myself to only one woman when I can have as many women as I want? View quote
George Gershwin
Writing music is not so much inspiration as hard work. View quote
George Gershwin
All these tales of people sitting down and composing symphonies just as though they were writing a letter are very much exaggerated; at least, it isn't that way in my work. View quote
George Gershwin
My people are American, my time is today...music must repeat the thought and aspirations of the times. (George Gershwin)
What the hell do you want to work for somebody else for? Work for yourself! View quote
George Gershwin
Jazz is the result of the energy stored up in America. View quote
George Gershwin
Gershwin's melodic gift was phenomenal. His songs contain the essence of New York in the 1920s and have deservedly become classics of their kind, part of the 20th-century folk-song tradition in the sense that they are popular music which has been spread by oral tradition (for many must have sung a Gershwin song without having any idea who wrote it). View quote
George Gershwin
It sounds simple, of course, but personally I can think of no more mentally arduous task than making music. View quote
George Gershwin