Billy Strayhorn Quotes

You're in a mess, and in excess. ~ Billy Strayhorn

After a noticeable silence, he'd recently published a book of technically baffling poems, with line breaks so arbitrary and frequent as to be useless, arrhythmic. On the page they look like some of Charles Bukowski's skinny, chatty, muttering-stuttering antiverses. Impossibly, Mark's words make music, the faraway strains of an irresistible jazz. It's plain to any reader, within a few lines - well, go read the poems and see, Marcus Ahearn traffics with the ineffable. He makes the mind of the speaker present, in that here-and-now where the reader actually reads - that place. Such a rare thing. Samuel Beckett. Jean Follain, Ionesco - the composer Billy Strayhorn. Mark calls his process "psychic improvisation" and referred me to the painter Paul Klee; the term was Klee's. "You just get out a pen and a notebook and let your mind go long," he told me. ~ Denis Johnson

I'll live a lush life in some small dive. ~ Billy Strayhorn

All music is beautiful. ~ Billy Strayhorn

Romance is mush, stifling those who strive. ~ Billy Strayhorn

Ever up and onward. ~ Billy Strayhorn

I think everything should happen at halfway to dawn. That's when all the heads of government should meet. I think everybody would fall in love. ~ Billy Strayhorn

[Billy Strayhorn] understood the violin as well as he understood Jazz, and he wrote for the violin as a violin. ~ Stephane Grappelli

In music, as you develop a theme or musical idea, there are many points at which directions must be decided, and at any time I was in the throes of debate with myself, harmonically or melodically, I would turn to Billy Strayhorn. We would talk, and then the whole world would come into focus. The steady hand of his good judgment pointed to the clear way that was fitting for us. He was not, as he was often referred to by many, my alter ego. Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine. ~ Duke Ellington

If you want something hard enough, it just gets done. ~ Billy Strayhorn

That's all I did - that's all I ever did - try to do what Billy Strayhorn did. ~ Gil Evans

It really was truth or consequences, and Billy went with truth. It was just incredible." Forsaking public prominence, Strayhorn found personal freedom in service to the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Now there might not be a Billy Strayhorn Orchestra. But there was a Billy Strayhorn. ~ David Hajdu

I fell and broke my pelvic bone in three places. So, I'm still sort of an invalid now. ~ Billy Graham

The only one who can re-create us is the One who created us in the first place. If your watch were out of order, you wouldn't take it to a blacksmith. If your car needed overhauling, you wouldn't go to a machine shop. Our spiritual problems can be solved only by the God who created us originally. ~ Billy Graham

Christmas means a great deal to me. I was reared in a family that celebrated Christmas to some extent, but I married into a family that celebrated Christmas in a big way. And my wife always made a big thing of Christmas for the children. We have five children, and we had a terrific time at Christmas. ~ Billy Graham

My songs are like my kids. ~ Billy Joel

I may not be as visible as I used to be, and by that I mean being in the clubhouse or on the field. But I'm just as invested as I've always been. ~ Billy Beane

I tend to be reactionary. ~ Billy Corgan

We . . . do not cease to pray for you. COLOSSIANS 1:9 ~ Billy Graham

You're having a hard time and lately you don't feel so good; You're getting a bad reputation in your neighborhood. It's alright, it's alright; Sometimes that's what it takes. You're only human, you're allowed to make your share of mistakes. ~ Billy Joel

A tame horse contributes much more to life than a wild one. Energy out of control is dangerous; energy under control is powerful. ~ Billy Graham

You cannot build a superstructure on a cracked foundation. ~ Billy Graham

Everything about life makes me lonely. ~ Billy Corgan

America and Western Europe are on a moneymaking, pleasure-mad spree unparalleled in the history of the world. God is generally ignored or ridiculed. Church members in many cases are only halfhearted Christians. Judgment is coming. ~ Billy Graham

It is possible through sin to harden our hearts against God so long that we lose all desire for God. The Scripture says: "God also gave them up" [Romans 1:24 KJV]. ~ Billy Graham

The word departure literally means to pull up anchor and set sail. Everything that happens prior to death is a preparation for the final voyage. Death marks the beginning, not the end. It is our journey to God. ~ Billy Graham

He'll get tired of chasing someone who doesn't chase back! ~ Billy Ray Cyrus

Someday all of us will give account of the way we have used the gifts God has given. The person to whom much has been given will find much required of him. ~ Billy Graham

The devil doesn't need to invent any new temptations; the old ones work as well as they ever have. ~ Billy Graham

If you're hungry enough...even poison tastes good. ~ Billy Coffey

The idea that you can create a template that will work forever doesn't happen in any business. There's some really, really bright people in this business. You can't do the same thing the same way and be successful for a long period of time. ~ Billy Beane

As I read the Bible, I seem to find holiness to be [Christ's] supreme attribute. ~ Billy Graham

I always wished there was somebody like the Coen Brothers and they appeared. And so yeah, my favorite role that I've ever done was in The Man Who Wasn't There. That's my very favorite character I've ever played. ~ Billy Bob Thornton

Joy is produced in our hearts when we know that God loves us, when we have a close relationship with Him through reading His Word, praying, and desiring to honor Him in all that we do, and by serving others. ~ Billy Graham

You need to be in fellowship of a church ... If you separate a live coal from the others, it will soon die out. However, if you put a live coal in with other live coals, it will be a glow that will last for hours. ~ Billy Graham

The philosopher says think your way out. The sensualist says play your way out but none of it works. ~ Billy Graham

Years ago I was on television having a discussion with Billy Graham about atheism. He was saying, even if you're right and I'm wrong, and there's nothing after, I will have had a better life than you, because I do believe there was something. And I couldn't argue with that, even though I wanted to. ~ Woody Allen

Sin is serious - so serious it sent Jesus Christ to the cross. Flee from [sin] and stay close to Christ. ~ Billy Graham

Gratitude is one of the greatest Christian virtues; ingratitude, one of the most vicious sins. ~ Billy Graham

More friction and tensions are caused in a family by tone of voice than for any other one reason. ~ Billy Graham

Even when I was coming through school, I was a loner and I used to study music and play it and play it, and I was in bands. ~ Billy West

At 60, I could do the same things I could do at 30, if I could only remember what those things are. ~ Billy Crystal

The art from the East is influenced by nature and touch. That comes from being more attuned to the environment. ~ Billy Al Bengston

Repeated disappointment almost always triggers a series of other reactions: discouragement, anger, frustration, bitterness, resentment, even depression. Unless we learn to deal with disappointment, it will rob us of joy and poison our souls. ~ Billy Graham

What always staggers me is that when people blow their noses, they always look into their hankies to see what came out. What do they expect to find? ~ Billy Connolly

Pentecost was the day of power of the Holy Spirit. It was the day the Christian church was born. ~ Billy Graham

I don't belong in limos or private jets or on stage with people cheering me but that's what's kept me grounded because I know it's not right. ~ Billy Joel

Only God can give us a selfless love for others, as the Holy Spirit changes us from within. This is one reason we must receive Christ, for apart from His Spirit we can never be freed from the chains of selfishness, jealousy, and indifference. Will others see Christ's love in your life today? ~ Billy Graham

I have never met a person who didn't have problems of some kind. This is why we need one another's encouragement. ~ Billy Graham

Nothing can alter the fact that God calls perversion sin. ~ Billy Graham

Faith grows when it is planted in the fertile soil of God's Word. ~ Billy Graham

I mean there's certainly a lot of progressive rock and metal that exists at the underground level, which has its own vitality, as it should. But it seems to have lost its ability to really charge up the hill. ~ Billy Corgan

The more you know the less the better. ~ Billy Connolly

Well, everybody faces the fact there really aren't many records stores around to just go and browse. Maybe browse online, yet that tactile feel of flipping through a stack of vinyl remains one of life's simple pleasures. ~ Billy Gibbons

You been to school, you say you are a lawyer, you walked out of a magazine. I've been a drifter and a low-life loser, you can learn a lot from me. ~ Billy Joe Shaver

Some people spend their lives building ultimate dream homes so they can enjoy their twilight years ... Others spend their last days in nursing homes. ~ Billy Graham

There would be no life for darkies in the new Dixie, or the new United States, either, come to that. ~ Billy Roper

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War what is it good for? It's good for business. ~ Billy Bragg

We constantly pass up the rich and beautiful and ennobling experiences and seek out the tawdry, the cheap, and the degrading. These are the works of the devil, and they flourish on every side! ~ Billy Graham