Duke Ellington

"Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt."

"A true friend walks beside you in the music and the silence both."

"I've never met a person who wasn't valuable in some way."

"Strength isn't about how loud you can play; it's about how much feeling you can convey."

"The memory of things gone is important to all of us."

"I think about life like I think about music - in harmonies and progressions."

"There are no problems, only compositions waiting to be written."

"My greatest teacher was the audience who listened and responded."

"Freedom in music is like freedom in life - you must earn it through discipline."

"The adventure is in not knowing where the improvisation will take you."

"I write music as a prayer - my way of talking to something greater."

"The richest man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least."

"Health is the greatest wealth, but a healthy spirit is priceless."

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, but they'll remember how you made them feel."

"The future belongs to those who can dream it and live it simultaneously."

"To create something beautiful, you must first understand beauty yourself."

"I'm not trying to be funny; I'm just saying the truth as I see it."

"Music is the universal language where all souls speak freely."

"Don't tell me what's possible - show me what you feel."

"The most honest thing you can do is play from your heart."

"Relationships are like compositions - they require harmony and understanding."

"Solitude is where I go to listen to what my music is telling me."

"History is written by those who are bold enough to play their own song."

"Literature and music are sisters - they both tell the story of the human spirit."

"War teaches you what peace means, and loss teaches you what love means."

"I refuse to live in a world where my music is censored or controlled."

"Technology will never replace the human touch in music."

"The science of music is in its mathematics; the art is in its soul."

"Death is not the end - it's the final note in the composition called life."

"I persist because persistence is the only real guarantee in life."