George Gershwin Quotes

I like to think of music as an emotional science.

What the hell do you want to work for somebody else for? Work for yourself!

Originality is the only thing that counts. But the originator uses material and ideas that occur round him and pass through him. And out of his experience comes the original creation.

Jazz is one of the best things that you can find in your life, it can always be your friend.

I frequently hear music in the very heart of noise.

Life is a lot like jazz - it's best when you improvise.

Gershwin's melodic gift was phenomenal. His songs contain the essence of New York in the 1920s and have deservedly become classics of their kind, part of the 20th-century folk-song tradition in the sense that they are popular music which has been spread by oral tradition (for many must have sung a Gershwin song without having any idea who wrote it).

My people are Americans. My time is today.

Music sets up certain vibration which unquestionably results in a physical reaction. Eventually the proper vibration for every person will be found and utilized.

Look at the piano. You'll notice that there are white notes and black notes. Figure out the difference between them and you'll be able to make whatever kind of music you want.

A song is not a song until you sing it
A bell is not a bell until you ring it
Love is not Love until you give it away

When I'm in my normal mood, music drips from my fingers.

All these tales of people sitting down and composing symphonies just as though they were writing a letter are very much exaggerated; at least, it isn't that way in my work.

True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time.

It is always possible to create something original.

All great composers of the past spent most of their time studying. Feeling alone won't do the job. A man also needs technique.

Why should I limit myself to only one woman when I can have as many women as I want?

It took me three weeks to write the 'Rhapsody in Blue.' I had always wanted to write something blue and Paul Whiteman inspired.

Summertime And the living is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high Oh, your daddy's rich And your mama's good lookin' So hush little baby now don't you cry One of these mornin's You're gonna rise up singin' Then you'll spread your wings And take to the sky But til that mornin' Ain't nothin' can harm you With your daddy And your mammy standin' by.

The extraordinary thing about my mother, she's so modest about me.

Not many composers have ideas. Far more of them know how to use strange instruments which do not require ideas.

I frequently hear music in the heart of noise.

The European boys have small ideas but they sure know how to dress 'em up.

Gershwin's tragedy was not that he failed to cross the tracks, but rather that he did, and once there in his new habitat, was deprived of the chance to plunge his roots firmly into the new soil.

Writing music is not so much inspiration as hard work.

It sounds simple, of course, but personally I can think of no more mentally arduous task than making music.