I've always tried to be a poet more than anything else. I…

I don't have a family that grew up singing and playing all the time. I didn't really have anything to judge my abilities against…

— Van Hunt

I have seen great jazz musicians die obscure and drinking themselves to death and not really being able to get any work and working…

— Sonny Rollins

One more royal trait properly belongs to the poet. I mean his cheerfulness, without which no man can be a poet,--for beauty is his…

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“There are special neurological hazards, “disorders of skill,” that may affect professional musicians. The normal association of intellectual and emotional may break down in…

— Anonymous

All of these people kept on being professional musicians and composers in the strictest sense.

— James Tenney

... we weren't very professional; she could have gone to almost any town and put together a smoother ensemble, but we were pioneers, and…

— Sam Andrew

My father, my uncles, my aunts, from my father's side and my mother's side... they were all professional musicians. My father was a concert…

— Lalo Schifrin

The first record I made, when I listen to it, I understand. I understand perfectly well why certain musicians were unhappy with me. I…

— Cecil Taylor

Musicians are, by and large, not the most politically savvy crew.

— Ben Shapiro

In Japan, there has always been a small number of musicians who have been outspoken on social issues, but they tend to be dismissed…

— Ryuichi Sakamoto

I know a lot of people that have had fake Twitters... actors and musicians that I know. It's sort of a problem. There are…

— Zooey Deschanel

Under Thatcher, who ruled us with an iron rod, great art was made. Amazing designers and musicians. Acid house was born. Very colourful and…

— Noel Gallagher

I think my music has always been a mixture, depending on whom I'm working with - what band, what musicians, what producer.

— Matisyahu

I started off playing by ear, and being around a bunch of musicians and playing in the streets and in the different parades and,…

— Troy Andrews

We wanted to guide the musicians, so we could create our own sound. We would never let the band just go in and play…

— Lamont Dozier