George Gershwin

"Words without music are just words, and music without words can mean anything"

"I am amazed at the indifference shown by our institutions to jazz"

"The American composer must be free to express himself"

"I'm interested in the way a piece of music is put together"

"You cannot determine a man's importance by the size of his office"

"Good music is good music, no matter what your technique"

"I want to live and love where I want to"

"The strength of music lies in its truth"

"A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved"

"The present day composer refuses to die"

"Popularity will come and go, but a good composition will remain"

"A tune is the memory of a nation"

"Classical music is like looking at paintings, but with your ear"

"I feel always that the poignancy of something is in proportion as you know little of it"

"The man who does things makes mistakes, but he doesn't make the biggest mistake of all—doing nothing"

"I think that making a record of any kind has a certain self-consciousness about it"

"Advertising is the sincerest form of flattery"

"The facts of life are conservative"

"I do not think that music need be either serious or light to be good"

"I got rhythm, you got rhythm, we got rhythm"

"The strength of style comes from perfection"

"Art is the beauty you express within"

"Work hard and don't listen to the critics"

"The most important thing in composition is the melody"

"I always believe that if you put in the work, the results will come"

"Music is the most wonderful instrument for expressing human emotions"

"The best teaching is the kind that lets students discover for themselves"

"Age is a matter of the spirit"

"Persistence is the key to success"

"Innovation is not about forgetting the past, it's about improving it"