Quincy Jones Quotes

Powerful Quincy Jones for Daily Growth

About Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones, born on November 14, 1933, in Bremerton, Washington, is an iconic American music producer, musician, filmmaker, and humanitarian. Often referred to as a "Jack of All Trades," his prolific career spans more than six decades, making significant contributions to various genres including jazz, soul, pop, and film scores. Raised in a musical family, Jones was introduced to music at an early age. He played trumpet, drums, bass, and piano by the age of 7, and began his professional career as a musician while still in high school. His big break came in 1956 when he joined the band of famed bandleader Count Basie. In 1962, Jones moved to New York City and began working as an arranger and conductor for high-profile acts such as Lesley Gore, Frank Sinatra, and Dinah Washington. He also produced albums for Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, and Sammy Davis Jr., establishing himself as a key figure in the 1960s music scene. The 1970s saw Jones' transition into record production and film scoring. His groundbreaking work with Michael Jackson on "Off the Wall" (1979) and "Thriller" (1982) cemented his status as a pop music titan. He also composed iconic film scores for "The Color Purple," "Rain Man," and "Back to the Future." Jones has received numerous accolades, including 27 Grammy Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. His influence on popular music is immeasurable, making him one of the most important figures in the history of American music. Jones continues to work and make contributions to various fields, inspiring countless artists along the way.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

This quote by Quincy Jones suggests that rather than expending energy arguing or resisting the existing state of things, it's more productive to invest effort in creating something new. By focusing on construction and innovation, we can drive change effectively. In essence, it encourages a proactive approach to transformation, as opposed to a reactive one.

"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."

This quote emphasizes the importance of having a clear set of values or beliefs that guide one's actions and decisions. When we know what we stand for, we have a compass to navigate through life and make choices that align with our principles. If we lack this foundation, we may be swayed by external pressures or temptations, potentially leading to confusion, inconsistency, or poor decision-making. By standing for something, we establish our identity, purpose, and resilience in the face of adversity.

"You can't be successful in life without having a positive attitude."

This quote suggests that maintaining a positive outlook is crucial for achieving success in life. A positive attitude, which includes optimism, resilience, and determination, enables individuals to face challenges, overcome obstacles, and seize opportunities with confidence. It allows them to learn from failures, adapt to changing circumstances, and stay motivated even when faced with adversity. In essence, a positive attitude can be the driving force that propels people towards their goals and contributes to their overall success in life.

"There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits of your own mind."

This quote by Quincy Jones emphasizes that the only barrier to achieving one's goals is one's own limitations in thinking and belief. It suggests that if one dares to dream beyond conventional boundaries, expands their perspective, and eliminates self-imposed restrictions, there are no limits to what they can accomplish. In essence, it encourages individuals to break free from mental constraints and embrace an unlimited potential for success and achievement.

"Keep reaching, keep striving, keep going. Don't stop."

This quote emphasizes perseverance and continuous progress in one's endeavors. It encourages individuals to push beyond their limits, strive for more, and never give up on their dreams or goals. The message is to maintain a relentless pursuit of success, learning, or personal growth, no matter the obstacles that may arise along the way. In essence, it inspires us to keep moving forward in life.

Just blow in it and sound bad for about a year and then make it sound a little bit better, and you get a little band together, and then you get a few jobs. You take four guys that sound half bad, but if they're 25 percent each, they can give 100 percent, you know?

- Quincy Jones

Bad, Year, Half, About A Year

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

- Quincy Jones

Business, Entertainment, Performers

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

- Quincy Jones

Legacy, Born, I Hope That, Tombstone

I lost my mother when I was 7 and they put her in a mental hospital. My brother and I watched her being taken away in a strait jacket. That's something you never forget. And my stepmother was like in the movie 'Precious.' I couldn't handle it. So I said to myself, 'I don't have a mother. I don't need one. I'm going to let music be my mother.'

- Quincy Jones

Mental, Movie, Away, Jacket

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

Learn, Learned, French Horn, Trombone

Seattle is like a global gumbo, a melting pot with all kinds of people - the rich, the poor, white people, some Chinese, Filipino, Jewish and black people - they're all here.

- Quincy Jones

Here, Some, Melting Pot, Pot

I'm probably the only one in the world you can name that's worked with Billie Holiday, Louie Armstrong, Ella, Duke, Miles, Dizzy, Ray Charles, Aretha, Michael Jackson, rappers. 'Fly Me to the Moon' was played on the moon by Buzz Aldrin. Sinatra. Paul Simon. Tony Bennett. I'm the only one.

- Quincy Jones

Holiday, Paul Simon, Charles, Duke

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

Love, My Life, Been, Musician

Imagine what a harmonious world it could be if every single person, both young and old shared a little of what he is good at doing.

- Quincy Jones

Imagination, Doing, Shared, Harmonious

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

Nature, Think, I Think, Attraction

I only hope that one day, America will recognize what the rest of the world already has known, that our indigenous music - gospel, blues, jazz and R&B - is the heart and soul of all popular music; and that we cannot afford to let this legacy slip into obscurity, I'm telling you.

- Quincy Jones

Legacy, Telling, We Cannot, Slip

We were in the heart of the ghetto in Chicago during the Depression, and every block - it was probably the biggest black ghetto in America - every block also is the spawning ground practically for every gangster, black and white, in America too.

- Quincy Jones

Black, Ghetto, Practically, Chicago

Bebop and hip-hop, in so many ways, they're connected. A lot of rappers remind me so much of bebop guys in terms of improvisation, beats and rhymes. My dream is to see hip-hop incorporated in education. You've got the youth of the world in the palm of your hand.

- Quincy Jones

Education, Palm, Rhymes, Improvisation

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

Streets, Been, Which, Pulse

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

Ring, Away, Frank, None

When you work with Ray Charles, Billy Eckstine and Frank Sinatra, and you tell them to jump without a net, you better know what you're talking about. Thank God I was ready for it.

- Quincy Jones

Tell, Frank, Billy, None

Every day, my daddy told me the same thing. 'Once a task is just begun, never leave it till it's done. Be the labour great or small, do it well or not at all.'

- Quincy Jones

Small, Same Thing, Till, Daddy

To me it's no accident that all the symphony orchestras around the world tune up to the note A. And A is 440 cycles, except in Germany where it's 444. But the universe is 450 cycles. So what I'm trying to say is, I think it's God's voice, melody especially. Counterpoint, retrograde inversion, harmony... that's the science and the craft.

- Quincy Jones

Voice, Harmony, Note, Orchestra

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

Believe, Back, Hundred, Hundred Years

I met Ray Charles at 14, and he was 16. But he was like a hundred years older than me.

- Quincy Jones

Like, Hundred, Charles, Hundred Years

Melody is king, and don't you ever forget it. Lyrics appear to be out front, but they're not; they're just an accompanying factor. If they're good, you're really in good shape. Lyrics are written to be rewritten.

- Quincy Jones

Good, King, Shape, Factor

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

- Quincy Jones

Music, Country, Through, Defined

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

- Quincy Jones

Believer, Come, Letting, Flow

Few rappers realize the genre sprang from West African griots through Delta slave songs to jazz poetry and the comedic trash talk of 'the dozens.'

- Quincy Jones

Through, Jazz, Dozens, Comedic

Cherish your mistakes, and you won't keep making them over and over again. It's the same with heartbreaks and girls and everything else. Cherish them, and they'll put some wealth in you.

- Quincy Jones

Wealth, Some, Over, Everything Else

We got into all the trouble you could ever imagine. We figured that if the Jones boys and all the gangsters ran Chicago, we had our own territory now. All the stores, all the crime, we were in charge of everything, my stepbrother and my brother.

- Quincy Jones

Own, Had, Figured, Ran

We stole a box of honey jars one time and went out in the woods and took care of the whole box. I don't think I touched honey again for 20 years. I never wanted to see honey again.

- Quincy Jones

Think, Touched, Took, Stole

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

Away, Singers, Everybody, Seattle

If you started in New York you were dealing with the biggest guys in the world. You're dealing with Charlie Parker and all the big bands and everything. We got more experience working in Seattle.

- Quincy Jones

New, Big, Charlie Parker, Seattle

I travel like a maniac. I travel more than anyone I know. I love learning the languages.

- Quincy Jones

Love, I Love, Languages, Maniac

Without the Fender bass, there'd be no rock n' roll or no Motown. The electric guitar had been waiting 'round since 1939 for a nice partner to come along. It became an electric rhythm section, and that changed everything.

- Quincy Jones

Waiting, Been, Became, Fender

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

Human Being, Add, Very, Curriculum

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

Father, Very, Also, Family Members

Sidney Poitier and Sidney Lumet were instrumental in helping me get started as the first black composer to get name credit for movie scores.

- Quincy Jones

Movie, Helping, Scores, Instrumental

When I was 14, I was a passenger in a terrible accident.

- Quincy Jones

Terrible, Accident, Passenger

I got in the school band and the school choir. It all hit me like a ton of bricks, everything just came out. I played percussion for a while, and stayed after school forever just tinkering around with different things, the clarinets and the violins.

- Quincy Jones

Got, Tinkering, While, Different Things

My son is a hip-hop producer.

- Quincy Jones

Son, Producer, Hip-Hop

I'm a tremendous believer and supporter in hip-hop and rap.

- Quincy Jones

Believer, Rap, Tremendous, Hip-Hop

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

- Quincy Jones

Dreamer, Rising, Part, Leo

It slaps your dignity just right. I loved the idea of these proud, dignified black men, and I saw the older ones wounded, and it wounded me ten times as much because I couldn't stand seeing them hurt like this.

- Quincy Jones

Idea, Your, Times, Ten Times

I believe in astrology as much as I do in genetics.

- Quincy Jones

Believe, Genetics, Astrology, I Believe

I was raised in Chicago and I guess that was one of the special breeding grounds for gangsters of all colors. That was the Detroit of the gangster world. The car industry was thugs.

- Quincy Jones

Raised, Gangsters, Industry, Detroit

My earliest memories are being pinned to a fence with a switchblade.

- Quincy Jones

Memories, Being, Pinned, Fence

I didn't understand key signatures or anything, you know. I'd say silly things at the top of a trumpet part like, 'Note, when you play B naturals, make the B naturals a half step lower because they sound funny if they're B naturals.' And some guy said: 'Idiot, just put a flat on the third line and it's a key signature, you know?'

- Quincy Jones

Play, Some, Note, Key

I was inspired by a lot of people when I was young. Every band that came through town, to the theater, or the dance hall. I was at every dance, every night club, listened to every band that came through, because in those days we didn't have MTV, we didn't have television.

- Quincy Jones

Young, Through, Town, Every Night

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

Line, Rough, South, Colombia

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

Song, Singer, Shape, Terrible

When you produce an album, you're dealing with it theatrically. It has to have a structure, and the inner response to that is that the ear loves it.

- Quincy Jones

Response, Album, Dealing, Structure

I was rapping in 1939. It's old. The roots are complex. And kids don't know.

- Quincy Jones

Know, Old, Complex, Rapping

I'm just a musician and a record producer.

- Quincy Jones

Producer, Just, Record, Record Producer

I tell my kids and I tell proteges, always have humility when you create and grace when you succeed, because it's not about you. You are a terminal for a higher power. As soon as you accept that, you can do it forever.

- Quincy Jones

Humility, Tell, Always, Terminal

When I was 13, I started working in a nightclub with Ray Charles. That's the greatest school in the world, the school of the streets. Ray taught me how to read in Braille. He was only two years older than me, but it was like he was 100 years older.

- Quincy Jones

Two, Streets, Charles, 100 Years

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

Play, Next, Classes, Printed

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.

- Quincy Jones

Curious, Like, About, Bebop

I went with Lionel Hampton for three years. Out of that came a trip to Europe.

- Quincy Jones

Trip, Hampton, Lionel, Europe

I have all the tools and gadgets. I tell my son, who's a producer, 'You never work for the machine; the machine works for you.'

- Quincy Jones

Work, Tell, Works, Producer

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

- Quincy Jones

Groove, Always, About, Cared

When I was about five or seven years old my mother was placed in a mental institution and so we were with our father who worked very hard, and we had to figure a lot of things out.

- Quincy Jones

Father, Very, Placed, Institution

Playing the game, and unfortunately, playing the gangster game is very profitable.

- Quincy Jones

Game, Very, Profitable, Unfortunately

Unfortunately, America doesn't have a minister of culture, and I don't understand why. It's really bad for young people.

- Quincy Jones

Young, Bad, Minister, Unfortunately

China's got a billion people and a hit record over there is a million records. You know that ain't right.

- Quincy Jones

Right, Over, Records, Million

I've met every freak in the business.

- Quincy Jones

Business, Freak, Every, Met

When I was 14, I would sit up in my room and write till my eyes would bleed.

- Quincy Jones

Up, Till, Would, Bleed

My grandmother had this high-tech security system - a rusty nail she used to lock the door.

- Quincy Jones

Door, Grandmother, Nail, High-Tech

After every war, there was a significant change in the music, and I can understand how that happened. If you participate in protecting the country, you think you can be part of it, but you come back home and it's worse than ever.

- Quincy Jones

Country, Back, Part, Happened

We spent most of our life almost like street rats just running around the street until we were ten years old.

- Quincy Jones

Old, Like, Almost, Ten

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

- Quincy Jones

Amazing, Anything Else, Trouble

I was married for 36 years but now I'm free.

- Quincy Jones

Free, Now, Years, Married

I'm not a psychiatrist.

- Quincy Jones

Psychiatrist

I'm never in my life going to do a record that's a tribute to myself. I don't need it.

- Quincy Jones

My Life, Need, Going, Tribute

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

- Quincy Jones

Racism, Over, Years, Thinly

I don't ever want to grow up. That's boring.

- Quincy Jones

Grow, Boring, Ever, Grow Up

I live on the Internet.

- Quincy Jones

Live, Internet

Everybody has their idiosyncrasies.

- Quincy Jones

Everybody, Idiosyncrasies

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

- Quincy Jones

Important, Know, Defense, Military

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

- Quincy Jones

Music, Liquid, Must, Frozen

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

Belong, Could, Hoped, Musicians

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

- Quincy Jones

Music, Movies, Release, Tension

I was the most subtle person in the world.

- Quincy Jones

World, Person, Most, Subtle

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

- Quincy Jones

Afraid, Get, Cannot, Getting

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

- Quincy Jones

Young, Go, Should, Young People

You make your mistakes to learn how to get to the good stuff.

- Quincy Jones

Learn, How, Get, Mistakes

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