John Philip Sousa

“Jazz will endure just as long as people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.”

“I firmly believe that we have more latent musical talent in America than there is in any other country. But to dig it out there must be good music throughout the land, a lot of it. Everyone...”

“There is one thing that freezes a musician more than the deadliest physical cold, and that is the spiritual chill of an unresponsive audience!”

“Governmental aid is a drawback rather than an assistance, as, although it may facilitate in the routine of artistic production, it is an impediment to the development of true artistic genius...”

“I am happy now, to recall that I was not only his son but his companion, and whenever there was a hunting expedition or any other pleasure, I was always with him.”

“America can well expect to develop a goodly amount of composers for she has a goodly number of people.”

“The office of President is a great one; to every true American it seems the greatest on earth. And to me, as I was engaged in weaving a background of music for the pageantry of it, there cam...”

“The movements which I make I cannot possibly repress because, at the time, I am actually the idea I am interpreting, and naturally I picture my players and auditors as in accord with me. I k...”

“Remember always that the composer's pen is still mightier than the bow of the violinist; in you lie all the possibilities of the creation of beauty.”

“There is much modern music that is better adapted to a wind combination than to a string, although for obvious reasons originally scored for an orchestra. If in such cases the interpretation...”

“I had found English audiences highly satisfactory. They are the best listeners in the world. Perhaps the music-lovers of some of our larger cities equal the English, but I do not believe the...”

“I can almost always write music; at any hour of the twenty-four, if I put pencil to paper, music comes.”

“Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter hear...”

“I still feel the impulse to give young writers a hearing, and I believe I have played more unpublished compositions than any other band leader in the country.”