James Weldon Johnson Quotes
It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.
Quotes to Explore
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Music was a way of rebelling against the whole rah-rah high school thing.
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Among my books, the ones that sell best are for readers between the ages of 8 and 12. According to a study by the Association of American Publishers, the largest area of industry growth in 2014 was in the children and young adult category.
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I started acting almost on a whim to help my music career.
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I love Johnny Cash but I don't love country music that much.
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I was convinced in middle school that I invented tight-rolling your pants, because I would get hand-me-downs from my brothers, and of course they were bell-bottoms from the '70s. So I would fold and fold over the bells. I like to think I started the trend. But I didn't.
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The most meaningful engine of change, powerful enough to confront corporate power, may be not so much environmental quality, as the economic development and growth associated with the effort to improve it.
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Don't worry so much about your self-esteem. Worry more about your character. Integrity is its own reward.
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There's so much music in Austin, and it's all so different.
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I guess when I first started speaking with an American accent, there's a tendency to create a caricature of the accent because you just exaggerate the pieces that stand out to you.
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My dad was a huge big band and jazz fan, and we both sort of enjoyed be-bop, but man, it required so much skill to play it. And then there was cool jazz, the era that Miles, Coltrane, and Ornette ushered in, and that found a home in me. It turns out that that music was just really where I breathed.
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Most experiences are either sensual or intellectual. Chamber music, played by a small group so the listener can follow what each player is doing, is both.
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Bankruptocracy is as much a European predicament as it is an American 'invention.' The difference between the experience of the two continents is that at least Americans did not have to labour under the enormous design faults of the eurozone.
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My music is a little dark, and my lyrics are a little darker. Every day, I'm fighting towards the light.
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Any character that can't be kept straight, to me, isn't a character who should be in the book – you know, anyone not vivid enough to have a claim on my attention.
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But I really believe that you don't do music because you want to, you do it because you have to.
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Music really gets me going, so I've always got to make sure I have my iPod to give me energy to work out.
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I have considered rap music stars, and there is one in my new book, Lovers and Players, and there is also a hip-hop music mogul who I think you will like a lot.
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Parenthood, like death, is an event for which it is nearly impossible to be prepared. It brings you into a new relationship with the fact of your own existence, a relationship in which one may be rendered helpless.
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I absolutely loved it, and I loved the way the character of D'Artagnan had been portrayed. I was just well up for it. So, I went in and met (director) Toby [Haynes], and as soon as I got into that room, to see how excited everybody was to get this underway and onto the set, it just drew me to it, even more. It was an instant attraction, so I was delighted when I got the offer.
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I find theater emotionally expensive and all-involving. You have to pour so much blood and passion and heart into it. And so much time. Why do that for something that's only vaguely interesting and anyone can do it?
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I personally call one of my fans every month. I answer all of my own fan mail.
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The Constitution remains brilliant in its overall design and sound with respect to the Bill of Rights and the separation of powers. But there are numerous archaic provisions that inhibit constructive change and adaptation. These constitutional bits affect the daily life of the republic and every citizen in it.
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I'm kind of transatlantic Eurotrash.
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It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.
