Which are your favorite Miles Davis quotes?
Miles Davis was an American jazz trumpeter, and one of the most iconic figures in Jazz… ever.
When people think of Jazz music, Miles Davis is one of the first names that comes to mind. He lived from 1926 to 1991 and is still regarded as a legendary icon.
Here’s our collection of motivational Miles Davis quotes:
42 Miles Davis Quotes
1. “Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” – Miles Davis
2. “Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.” – Miles Davis
3. “Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.” – Miles Davis
4. “If you understood everything I say, you’d be me!” – Miles Davis
5. “For me, music and life are all about style.” – Miles Davis
6. “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
7. “A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I’m still doing it.” – Miles Davis
8. “I’ll play it first and tell you what it is later.” – Miles Davis
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9. “The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.” – Miles Davis
10. “Bebop was about change, about evolution. It wasn’t about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.” – Miles Davis
11. “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
12. “If you’re not making a mistake, it’s a mistake.” – Miles Davis
13. “I never thought jazz was meant to be a museum piece like other dead things once considered artistic.” – Miles Davis
14. “Play what you know, and then play above that.” – Miles Davis
15. “Music is an addiction.” – Miles Davis
16. “In music, silence is more important than sound.” – Miles Davis
17. “Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherf****r who plays it is 80 percent.” – Miles Davis
18. “Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.” – Miles Davis
19. “When you’re creating your own s***. Man, even the sky ain’t the limit.” – Miles Davis
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20. “In improvisation, there are no mistakes.” – Miles Davis
21. “Audiences – they like colour, you know. I can go out there wearing a red suit, man, and they’ll say I’m out of sight… I think they should be educated; you should always drop something on an audience… when you get in front of an audience, you should try to give ’em something. After all, they’re there looking at you like this. You can’t go out and give ’em nothing.” – Miles Davis
22. “If you’re not nervous, then you’re not paying attention.” – Miles Davis
23. “How far would I travel to be where you are? How far is the journey from here to a star?” – Miles Davis
24. “Jazz is like blues with a shot of heroin.” – Miles Davis
25. “Good music is good, no matter what kind of music it is.” – Miles Davis
26. “I always hated categories. Always. Never thought it had any place in music.” – Miles Davis
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27. “Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery.” – Miles Davis
28. “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
29. “If it sounds clean and slick, I’ve been doing it too long.” – Miles Davis
30. “You want to know how I started playing trumpet? My father bought me one, and I studied the trumpet. And everybody I heard that I liked, I picked up things from.” – Miles Davis
31. “Music is an addiction.” – Miles Davis
32. “If you understood everything I said, you’d be me.” – Miles Davis
33. “Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.” – Miles Davis
34. “Don’t play what’s there; play what’s not there.” – Miles Davis
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35. “Do not fear mistakes – there are none.” – Miles Davis
36. “My future starts when I wake up every morning. Every day I find something creative to do with my life.” – Miles Davis
37. “When you’re creating your own shit, man, even the sky ain’t the limit.” – Miles Davis
38. “You have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.” – Miles Davis
39. “I always listen to what I can leave out.” – Miles Davis
40. “If you don’t know what to play, play nothing.” – Miles Davis
41. “But you’ve got to have style in whatever you do — writing, music, painting, fashion, boxing, anything.” – Miles Davis
42. “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
Summary
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