Duke Ellington Quotes

A goal is a dream with a deadline. – Duke Ellington

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues. – Duke Ellington

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. – Duke Ellington

Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no one. – Duke Ellington

The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen. – Duke Ellington

The wise musicians are those who play what they can master. – Duke Ellington

I don’t need time, I need a deadline. – Duke Ellington

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous, you don’t want it. – Duke Ellington

Freedom is the most essential ingredient in jazz. – Duke Ellington

I don’t write music for bands, I write music for people. – Duke Ellington

I love playing with different musicians. – Duke Ellington

Jazz is a good barometer of freedom. – Duke Ellington

Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues like we play, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to college, to a school of higher learning. – Duke Ellington

Music is how I live, why I live and how I will be remembered. – Duke Ellington

Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes improvement. – Duke Ellington

The piano ain’t got no wrong notes. – Duke Ellington

There is no art without intention. – Duke Ellington

What is jazz? It, is freedom of expression without boundary. – Duke Ellington

You’ve got to find some way of saying it without saying it. – Duke Ellington

I don’t believe in categories of any kind, and I’m not interested in labels. – Duke Ellington

I’m always looking for something new: a new pitch, a new rhythm, a new idea. – Duke Ellington

I’m always interested in what is happening in the world. – Duke Ellington

Jazz is about being in the moment, expressing yourself freely and staying true to yourself. – Duke Ellington

Jazz is my kind of music, it’s what I feel inside. – Duke Ellington

Music is the art of thinking with sounds. – Duke Ellington

Music should be something that makes you feel something. – Duke Ellington

People have a tendency to complicate things, but music is simple. It’s just about communication and expression. – Duke Ellington

The best way to predict the future is to create it. – Duke Ellington

The beauty of jazz is that it’s improvised. It’s like life, you never know what’s going to happen next. – Duke Ellington

The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes—ah, that is where the art resides! – Duke Ellington

Without music, life would be a mistake. – Duke Ellington

You can’t separate the music from the musician. – Duke Ellington

I don’t want to be bothered with what’s wrong with other people. I want to be bothered with what’s right about them. – Duke Ellington

I love the freedom that comes with improvising. It’s like flying without wings. – Duke Ellington

I’m not interested in what other people think about my music. I’m only interested in what I think about it. – Duke Ellington

In music, as in life, it’s all about finding the right balance. – Duke Ellington

Jazz is the art of telling a story in the moment. – Duke Ellington

Jazz is the language of the soul. – Duke Ellington

My goal is to inspire people through my music. – Duke Ellington

Music is the universal language that can bring people together. – Duke Ellington

The best music is the music that touches your soul. – Duke Ellington

The most important thing in music is to be authentic. – Duke Ellington

There are no wrong notes in jazz, only interesting ones. – Duke Ellington

We don’t need more musicians, we need more listeners. – Duke Ellington

You have to be fully present in order to make great music. – Duke Ellington