The best Quotes by John Philip Sousa

Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.

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

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.

I have always believed that 98% of a student's progress is due to his own efforts, and 2% to his teacher.

Any composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself.

As a native Washingtonian, I am well aware that childhood obesity is a real problem in our nation's capital.

The Washington Bullets are changing their name. They don't want their team to be associated with crime. From now on, they'll just be known as the Bullets.

Washington is a place where politicians don't know which way is up and taxes don't know which way is down.

I call Washington "the city of the perishable".

Let me give you a little bit of free advice. DC is all about realtionships.

Alex: "You can't do that. You can't make promises that you won't be able to keep!"
Tom: "We're in Washington, they're the only promises we're allowed to make."

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog!

Washington, D.C. is to lying what Wisconsin is to cheese.

In England, they drive on the left side of the road.
In Pennsylvania we drive on what's left of the road.

They say money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a flight to Pennsylvania - and that's pretty much the same thing.

Songs are as sad as the listener.

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.

Music is a total constant. That's why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in your or the world, that one song says the same, just like that moment.

Music is reflection of self

It can take a lifetime to discover Jazz, but only an instant to fall in love with it.

Jazz is conflict and it's compromise, and it's new every time. It's brand new every night. It's very, very exciting. And it's dying. It's dying on the vine. And the world says, "Let it die. It had its time." Well, not on my watch!

How are you gonna be a revolutionary if you're such a traditionalist? You hold onto the past, but jazz is about the future.

Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don't be a perfectionist - leave that to the classical musicians.

It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.

I wanted to run away that day, but you can't run away from your own feet.

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

One candidate is too old and mentally unfit to be president. The other one is me.