Quincy Jones Quotes

Author Image

Quincy Jones

Profession : Musician

Birth : March 14, 1933

I'm Pisces with Leo rising. The Pisces part is the dreamer. The Leo says, 'Let's execute.'

Quincy Jones

I've never been bored in my life, man. I've never been bored or lonely. Are you kidding? No way! I'm an orchestrator, a musician, a producer. I love everything. I've studied languages from Farsi to Greek to French, Swedish, Russian... How can you get bored?

Quincy Jones

I guess hip-hop has been closer to the pulse of the streets than any music we've had in a long time. It's sociology as well as music, which is in keeping with the tradition of black music in America.

Quincy Jones

I got a scholarship to Seattle University and I was writing arrangements for singers and everybody. But the music course was too dry and I really wanted to get away from home.

Quincy Jones

Frank Sinatra took me to a whole new planet. I worked with him until he passed away in '98. He left me his ring. I never take it off. Now, when I go to Sicily, I don't need a passport. I just flash my ring.

Quincy Jones

My father was a carpenter, a very good carpenter. He also worked for the Jones boys. They were not family members, we weren't related at all. They started the policy racket in Chicago, and they had the five and dime store.

Quincy Jones

It's easy to get next to music theory, especially between your peers and music classes and so forth. You just pay attention. I had a good ear, so I realized that printed music was just about reminding you what to play.

Quincy Jones

Music in movies is all about dissonance and consonance, tension and release.

Quincy Jones

I think the attraction of 'American Idol' is about the basic human nature attitude that is, 'We can put you up there. But we can take you down.'

Quincy Jones

I never cared about money or fame, and I don't care now. I follow the groove, and money always follows.

Quincy Jones

I started imagining this whole different world. It was a society of musicians, a family I hoped I could belong to one day.

Quincy Jones

Working with kids in Soweto in South Africa, it's rough out there. But the bottom line is you've got to go to know. In Cambodia, there are 10,000 landmines. Same in Afghanistan, same in Colombia. I'm totally addicted to traveling.

Quincy Jones

After I learned the piano, I went on to learn percussion, the tuba, b-flat baritone, French horn, trombone, trumpet, most of the instruments in the orchestra. Trumpet was my instrument.

Quincy Jones

I hope that on my tombstone it says 'Born 1933, died 2043.' I hope that's my legacy.

Quincy Jones

A great song can make a terrible singer sound good, but a good singer - you put a great song on top of that, you're really in great shape!

Quincy Jones

I believe that a hundred years from now, when people look back at the 20th century, they will look at Miles, Bird, Clifford Brown, Ella and Dizzy, among elders as our Mozarts, our Chopins, our Bachs and Beethovens.

Quincy Jones

I'm a great believer in letting lyrics just flow out, wherever they come from.

Quincy Jones

Everybody, no matter what vocation they're looking at, should add music as an essential to their curriculum. Music can be a very important part of your soul and your growth as a human being. It's so powerful.

Quincy Jones

I've met every freak in the business.

Quincy Jones

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

Quincy Jones