George Gershwin Quotes

30 quotes in 440 categories

• For suddenly, I saw you there And through foggy London town The sun was shining everywhere...
• Out of my entire annual output of songs, perhaps two, or at the most three, came as a result of inspiration. We can never rely…
• The European boys have small ideas but they sure know how to dress 'em up.
• The composer does not sit around and wait for an inspiration to walk up and introduce itself…Making music is actually little else than a matter…
• Jazz I regard as an American folk music; not the only one, but a very powerful one which is probably in the blood and feeling…
• A skyscraper is at the same time a triumph of the machine and a tremendous emotional experience, almost breath-taking. Not merely its height but its…
• Not many composers have ideas. Far more of them know how to use strange instruments which do not require ideas.
• When jazz is played in another nation, it is called American. When it is played in another country, it sounds false. Jazz is the result…
• An entire composition written in jazz could not live.
• When I'm in my normal mood, music drips from my fingers.
• What the hell do you want to work for somebody else for? Work for yourself!
• Summertime And the living is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high Oh, your daddy's rich And your mama's good lookin' So hush…
• Originality is the only thing that counts. But the originator uses material and ideas that occur round him and pass through him. And out of…
• Music sets up certain vibration which unquestionably results in a physical reaction. Eventually the proper vibration for every person will be found and utilized.
• All great composers of the past spent most of their time studying. Feeling alone won't do the job. A man also needs technique.
• Upper berth, lower berth, that's the difference between talent and genius.
• Why should I limit myself to only one woman when I can have as many women as I want?
• I want to say at once that I frankly believe that Irving Berlin is the greatest songwriter that has ever lived.... His songs are exquisite…
• The extraordinary thing about my mother, she's so modest about me.
• Writing music is not so much inspiration as hard work.

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