John Philip Sousa Quotes

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John Philip Sousa

Profession : Musician

Birth : November 6, 1854

My religion lies in my composition.

John Philip Sousa

I have always believed that 98% of a student's progress is due to his own efforts, and 2% to his teacher.

John Philip Sousa

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.

John Philip Sousa

Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.

John Philip Sousa

There is much modern music that is better adapted to a wind combination than to a string, although for obvious reasons originally scored for an orchestra. If in such cases the interpretation is equal to the composition the balance of a wind combination is more satisfying.

John Philip Sousa

My success is not due to any personal superiority over other people.

John Philip Sousa

Governmental aid is a drawback rather than an assistance, as, although it may facilitate in the routine of artistic production, it is an impediment to the development of true artistic genius.

John Philip Sousa

From childhood I was passionately fond of music and wanted to be a musician. I have no recollection of any real desire ever to be anything else.

John Philip Sousa

Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter heart and soul into the life of the music and the tale it unfolds?

John Philip Sousa

Composers are the only people who can hear good music above bad sounds.

John Philip Sousa

I had found English audiences highly satisfactory. They are the best listeners in the world. Perhaps the music-lovers of some of our larger cities equal the English, but I do not believe they can be surpassed in that respect.

John Philip Sousa

Any composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself.

John Philip Sousa

Sincere composers believe in God.

John Philip Sousa

I am happy now, to recall that I was not only his son but his companion, and whenever there was a hunting expedition or any other pleasure, I was always with him.

John Philip Sousa

I think that the quality of all bands is steadily improving and it is a pleasant thought to me that perhaps the efforts of Sousa's Band have quickened that interest and improved that quality.

John Philip Sousa

The movements which I make I cannot possibly repress because, at the time, I am actually the idea I am interpreting, and naturally I picture my players and auditors as in accord with me. I know, of course, that my mannerisms have been widely discussed.

John Philip Sousa

The average music-lover hears only the production under prevailing conditions.

John Philip Sousa

I can almost always write music; at any hour of the twenty-four, if I put pencil to paper, music comes.

John Philip Sousa

I still feel the impulse to give young writers a hearing, and I believe I have played more unpublished compositions than any other band leader in the country.

John Philip Sousa

Remember always that the composer's pen is still mightier than the bow of the violinist; in you lie all the possibilities of the creation of beauty.

John Philip Sousa