Miles Davis Quotes

Quotes about:

• Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.

  Miles Davis

  Attitude, Play, Notes

  1281 Copy quote

• It's not the note you play that's the wrong note - it's the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.

  Miles Davis

  Play, Notes

  272 Copy quote

• In music, silence is more important than sound.

  Miles Davis

  Silence, Important, Experience

  202 Copy quote

• A painting is music you can see and music is a painting you can hear.

  Miles Davis

  Painting, Music Is

  172 Copy quote

• It takes a long time to sound like yourself.

  Miles Davis

  Long, Sound, Like You

  46 Copy quote
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  It's not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.

  Miles Davis

  Change, Creating, Acting

  Miles Davis, Quincy Troupe (1990). “Miles”, Simon and Schuster

  213 Copy quote

• First you imitate, then you innovate.

  Miles Davis

  Firsts

  96 Copy quote

• If somebody told me I only had an hour to live, I'd spend it choking a white man. I'd do it nice and slow.

  Miles Davis

  Nice, Men, White Man

  Jet, March 25, 1985.

  220 Copy quote

• Always listen for what you can leave out.

  Miles Davis

  98 Copy quote
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  Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery

  Miles Davis

  Ignorance, Slavery

  Miles Davis, Quincy Troupe (1990). “Miles”, p.61, Simon and Schuster

  176 Copy quote

• Music is the framework around the silence.

  Miles Davis

  Music, Silence, Framework

  50 Copy quote

• It's not the notes you play, it's the notes you don't play.

  Miles Davis

  Play, Jazz, Notes

  "Biopic Of The Cool: Don Cheadle Channels A Jazz Legend In 'Miles Ahead'" by Amy Nicholson, www.mtv.com. March 30, 2016.

  34 Copy quote

• If you hit a wrong note, it's the next note that you play that determines if it's good or bad.

  Miles Davis

  Play, Next, Notes

  30 Copy quote

• Don't play what's there, play what's not there.

  Miles Davis

  Music, Play, African American

  "SPIN" Magazine, (p. 30), December 1990.

  37 Copy quote
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  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

  Good Morning, Future, Creativity

  Miles Davis, Quincy Troupe (1990). “Miles”, p.408, Simon and Schuster

  189 Copy quote

• Don't worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.

  Miles Davis

  Worry, Jazz, Notes

  90 Copy quote

• Do not fear mistakes. There are none.

  Miles Davis

  Life, Music, Beautiful

  179 Copy quote

• See, if you put a musician in a place where he has to do something different from what he does all the time, then he can do that - but he's got to think differently in order to do it. He's got to play above what he knows - far above it. I've always told the musicians in my band to play what they know and then play above that. Because then anything can happen, and that's where great art and music happens.

  Miles Davis

  Art, Thinking, Order

  197 Copy quote

• If you understood everything I say, you'd be me!

  Miles Davis

  Music, Jazz, Understood

  18 Copy quote

• My future starts when I wake up every morning.

  Miles Davis

  Good Morning, Good Day, Morning Inspirational

  Miles Davis, Quincy Troupe (1990). “Miles”, Simon and Schuster

  63 Copy quote

• 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

  Art, Sacrifice, Men

  171 Copy quote

• You have to know 400 notes that you can play, then pick the right four.

  Miles Davis

  Play, Four, Notes

  135 Copy quote

• If you're not nervous then you're not paying attention.

  Miles Davis

  Attention, Nervous, Pay Attention

  144 Copy quote

• Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is.

  Miles Davis

  Music, Matter, Kind

  Miles Davis, Quincy Troupe (1990). “Miles”, p.205, Simon and Schuster

  72 Copy quote

• You know why I quit playing ballads? Cause I love playing ballads.

  Miles Davis

  Music, Causes, Jazz

  35 Copy quote

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