Copyright © 2008 by Open Horizons and John Kremer
Last modified: 3/12/08
The Quotable Books Series ...
The Music of Life
Singers, Musicians, Composers, and Dancers
on Life and Music(sample quotations from the book)
A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. — Maya Angelou, poet
The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style. — Fred Astaire, dancer
Never change a winning team. — Baby Jail, rock group
There are two kinds of talent, man-made talent and God-given talent. With man-made talent you have to work very hard. With God-given talent, you just touch it up once in a while. — Pearl Bailey, singer
There is no progress without failure. And each failure is a lesson learned. Unnecessary failures are the ones where an artist tries to second-guess an audience's taste, and little comes out of that situation except a kind of inward humiliation. — David Bowie, rock singer
Never ever give up on your dreams. — Mariah Carey, singer
Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the Infinite. — Thomas Carlyle, essayist
Not many people understand how important having a butler is. — Damon Dash, rapper
If the point is sharp, and the arrow is swift, it can pierce through the dust no matter how thick. — Bob Dylan, singer and songwriter
A goal is a dream that has an ending. — Duke Ellington, jazz musician
Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, i don’t think you can go wrong. — Ella Fitzgerald, singer
Real fulfillment is found in proportion to how we invest in each other’s lives. — Amy Grant, singer
A jazz musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges. — Benny Green, musician
There’s a real joy in being able to sing the blues—to be able to sing about the dark side of life, because you have to go through that to get to the other side. — Emmylou Harris, singer
If you put your mind to it and your heart and you really want to do this, you can make it happen. — Janet Jackson, singer
Never compromise yourself. You are all you've got. — Janis Joplin, rock singer
I guess I’ve earned the right to make a few observations about life, since I am now an old man of 81. And one thing I know for sure: Age has nothing to do with friendship. Neither does race. — B.B. King, blues musician
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away. — Elvis Presley, singer and actor
If I have someone who believes in me, I can move mountains. — Diana Ross, singer and actress
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