Thelonious Monk Quotes: top 53 famous quotes about Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk Quotes & Sayings

Happy to read and share the best inspirational Thelonious Monk quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.

Thelonious Sphere Monk: there's not a more perfect name to fit his compositions than that name. — Matthew Shipp

If you really understand the meaning of be-bop, you understand the meaning of freedom. — Thelonious Monk

I always believed in being myself. — Thelonious Monk

All musicians are potential band leaders. — Thelonious Monk

It's always night, or we wouldn't need light. — Thelonious Monk

All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians. — Thelonious Monk

Everybody in all countries tries to play jazz. — Thelonious Monk

Those who want to know what sound goes into my music should come to NY and open their ears. — Thelonious Monk

I find my inspiration in myself. — Thelonious Monk

Man, that cat [Ornette Coleman] is nuts. — Thelonious Monk

Anybody talented in any way - they're called eccentric. — Thelonious Monk

The majority of juice-heads and winos and junkies arent musicians. — Thelonious Monk

You've been making the wrong mistakes. — Thelonious Monk

Be-bop wasn't developed in any deliberate way. — Thelonious Monk

Where's jazz going? I don't know. Maybe it's going to hell. You can't make anything go anywhere. It just happens. — Thelonious Monk

You've got to dig it to dig it, you dig? — Thelonious Monk

I didn't know there were 2 ten o'clocks in a day ... — Thelonious Monk

There is no kind of music I don't listen to. Everything good is interesting. I am as happy with a Bach fugue as I am with a record by Thelonious Monk. — Maira Kalman

I compose my pieces with a formula that I created myself. — Thelonious Monk

I'm famous. Ain't that a bitch? — Thelonious Monk

I don't know what other people are doing - I just know about me. — Thelonious Monk

I don't have a definition of Jazz. You're just supposed to know it when you hear it. — Thelonious Monk

I have to listen to New York; I live there. I wasn't born there, but I've been living there all my life. — Thelonious Monk

I can shoot pool, and I can play ping-pong. I'm pretty good at those games. — Thelonious Monk

I never though much about race. — Thelonious Monk

I like Thelonious Monk, he's so gnarled, he's like a piece of machinery that's pulled up the bolts on the floor and gone off on its own. — Tom Waits

The inside of the tune [the bridge] is the part that makes the outside sound good. — Thelonious Monk

Jazz is freedom. You think about that. — Thelonious Monk

Everyone is influenced by everybody but you bring it down home the way you feel it. — Thelonious Monk

The loudest noise in the world is silence. — Thelonious Monk

Sometimes it's to your advantage for people to think you're crazy — Thelonious Monk

I guess, you know, if I didn't make it with the piano, I guess I would've been the biggest bum. — Thelonious Monk

I made the wrong mistakes — Thelonious Monk

Jazz is my adventure. — Thelonious Monk

Everyone is a genius at being themselves — Thelonious Monk

Trying to explain music is like trying to dance architecture. — Thelonious Monk

I was playing birthday parties. House-rent parties where they used to sell whisky during prohibition. — Thelonious Monk

We have two kids, my wife and myself. — Thelonious Monk

After two takes you're imitating yourself. — Thelonious Monk

His name, even, is part of the marketing scheme, I mean, Thelonious Sphere Monk - how can you think of a better name to fit his style of playing? — Matthew Shipp

Just because you're not a drummer doesn't mean you don't have to keep time. — Thelonious Monk

I have tons of jazz records: John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis. I could go on and on. — Ted King

Monk's reasons for dancing during a performance: "I get tired sitting down at the piano! That way I can dig the rhythm better. — Thelonious Monk

I'd go stupid collecting and counting my money. — Thelonious Monk

I played the wrong wrong notes. — Thelonious Monk

There are no wrong notes; some are just more right than others. — Thelonious Monk

The only cats worth anything are the cats that take chances. — Thelonious Monk

They tried to get me to hate white people, but someone would always come along & spoil it. — Thelonious Monk

A note can be as small as a pin or as big as the world, it depends on your imagination. — Thelonious Monk

The piano ain't got no wrong notes. — Thelonious Monk

A genius is the one most like himself. — Thelonious Monk

Don't play everything (or every time); let some things go by ... What you don't play can be more important than what you do. — Thelonious Monk

Miles'd got killed if he hit me. — Thelonious Monk