Miles Davis Quotes

[Mike_S]

Can't say I know too much about Miles Davis. I do have Kind of Blue which is brilliant, but the man did specialise in great quotes... here are a few I nicked off the web that I like...

"I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life." – Miles Davis

"When you do anything too long, you either wear it out or lose interest." – Miles Davis

"If it sounds clean and slick, I've been doing it too long." – Miles Davis

"I always listen to what I can leave out." – Miles Davis

"If you sacrifice your art because of some woman, or some man, or for some color, or for some wealth, you can't be trusted." – Miles Davis

"In school I was the best, but the prizes went to boys with blue eyes. I made up my mind to outdo anybody white on my horn." – Miles Davis

"When I'm playing, I'm never through. It's unfinished. I like to find a place to leave for someone else to finish it. That's where the high comes in." – Miles Davis

"It's always been a gift with me, hearing music the way I do. I don't know where it comes from, it's just there and I don't question it." – Miles Davis

"Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself." – Miles Davis

"Don't worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one." – Miles Davis

"I don't care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing." – Miles Davis

"Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherf****r who plays it is 80 percent." – Miles Davis

"I always hated categories. Always. Never thought it had any place in music." – Miles Davis

"You know why I quit playing ballads? Cause I love playing ballads." – Miles Davis

"Jazz is like blues with a shot of heroin." – Miles Davis

"Good music is good, no matter what kind of music it is." – Miles Davis

"He comes in on the beat and plays on top of the beat. I think when Prince makes love, he hears drums instead of Ravel." – Miles Davis

"Do not fear mistakes. There are none." – Miles Davis

"If you're not making a mistake, it's a mistake." – Miles Davis

"If you're not nervous, then you're not paying attention." – Miles Davis

"When you're creating your own shit, man, even the sky ain't the limit." – Miles Davis

"I have to change. It's like a curse." – Miles Davis

[Oldrottenhead]

Watched a great documentary on BBC 4 about him last week still on the iplayer I think,well worth a watch.

[Mike_S]

I missed that and we can't stream the BBC iplayer here in Ireland unfortunately. I did watch some interviews with him on YouTube a while back and he did look like an interesting guy.

[ODH]

Wise words.

Was lucky enough to see him live touring the Amandla album in about 1990.  I'll look out for that iPlayer documentary