Count Basie Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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Growing up on a farm was the best. I remember loving that expanse of space. The sky at night was so clear, I could see every star.
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The essential relationship across American history between black people and white people is one of exploitation and one of plunder. This is not, you know, necessarily about, you know, whether you're a good person or not or whether you see black people, you know, on the street, and you're willing to shake their hands and be polite.
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If you love something - and there are things that I love - you do want more and more and more of it, but that's not the way to produce good work. So as an author, I need to write what I need to write.
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Any good writer is going to be well-received and is going to not be well-received; that's how you know you're a great writer.
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Normally when I look at stuff, I try to look at the good things. When I watch video, I try to watch the good starts so I can see how my mechanics are in those.
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Good acting is all in the writing. If it isn't on the page, then it really won't make any difference. You cannot act on force of personality alone.
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At one time if you were a black writer you had to be one of the best writers in the world to be published. You had to be great. Now you can be good. Mediocre. And that's good.
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There are a lot of guys who play in pro-style offenses who are not prepared when they come out of college. Either you're coaching the quarterback to be a quarterback, or you're not.
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It's good to make your own things because you can have control of your own art.
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I'm aware people will think I've had an easy way into a dream career. My view is, if anyone has opportunities, they'll take them. My surname opens doors, but those doors will slam firmly if I'm no good.
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The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.
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My drummer, bass player, and guitar player sing backgrounds. They play and sing. I can sing all the harmonies, but I can't do it alone.
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I just want people to remember me like I remember Buster Keaton. When they talk about Buster Keaton or Gene Kelly, people say, 'Ah yes, they good.' Maybe one day, they remember Jackie Chan that way.
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A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down. If it is a good book nothing can hurt him. If it is a bad book nothing can help him.
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Knowing what you can not do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that's good taste.
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You can't give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad - in fact, to do anything it wants.
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Whenever our neighbour's house is on fire, it cannot be amiss for the engines to play a little on our own.
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A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
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There's a lot of times that both myself and my brother wish, obviously, that we were just completely normal.
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Is it not better to use what is in thy power like a free man than to desire in a slavish and abject way what is not in thy power?
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You have your ideology and I have mine.
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Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.
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This career is a relentless hustle because Hollywood is crowded with too many smart, talented people pursuing the same dream and the same pool of entertainment investment dollars. And unlike in law or medicine, there are no college degrees required - no barriers to entry.
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If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!
