Quincy Jones Quotes

Michael was so shy, he'd sit down and sing behind the couch with his back to me while I sat with my hands over my eyes-and the lights off.

The climate in the '50s and '60s for black performers or black people in the entertainment business was atrocious. It was atrocious.

I've met every freak in the business.

Did you know you would become as successful as you have? Hell, no. But you know what? You were prepared, baby.

I improvised my life along the way - I just moved step-by-step. And I knew that if I got better, something would happen.

I don't deserve a Songwriters Hall of Fame Award. But fifteen years ago, I had a brain operation and I didn't deserve that, either. So I'll keep it.

Arts is just as important as military defense, you know? Emotional defense is just as important.

I was reading Omar Khayyam, Kahlil Gibran, Rumi, L. Ron Hubbard, all sorts of philosophy. Bebop cats are like that. Curious. I wanted to know about everything.

Everybody has their idiosyncrasies.

Every country can be defined through their food, their music and their language. That's the soul of a country.

A song should have all the color and beauty of every rose.

Editing while you're writing is like strangling the baby in the crib.

Making a record is like painting a school bus with a toothbrush

I found this out over the years, that racism is a thinly veiled disguise over economics and money. It really is.

If architecture is frozen music then music must be liquid architecture.

Young people should travel, and they don’t. You can’t know if you don’t go.

You have to know that your real home is within.

You can study orchestration, you can study harmony and theory and everything else, but melodies come straight from God.

The only music I don't like is bad music.

It's amazing how much trouble you can get in when you don't have anything else to do.

Every day you must be able to say, I have to get up because I'm needed by someone. As long as you have that, you're healthy.

When you're over the hill, that's when you pick up speed.

It's the attitude about life, man. Looking at the light instead of the dark. Looking at love instead of fear.

You cannot get an A if you're afraid of getting an F.

You Make Your Mistakes To Learn How To Get To The Good Stuff

Let's not get too full of ourselves. Let's leave space for God to come into the room.

The process is the most beautiful part.

Not one ounce of my self worth depends on your acceptance of me.

Excellence isn't an act, it's a habit