Quincy Jones Quotes

The only justification for looking down on anyone, is that you're going to stop and pick them up.

~ Quincy Jones

I think the attraction of 'American Idol' is about the basic human nature attitude that is, 'We can put you up there. But we can take you down.'

~ Quincy Jones

To me it's no accident that all the symphony orchestras around the world tune up to the note A. And A is 440 cycles, except in Germany where it's 444. But the universe is 450 cycles. So what I'm trying to say is, I think it's God's voice, melody especially. Counterpoint, retrograde inversion, harmony... that's the science and the craft.

~ Quincy Jones

If architecture is frozen music then music must be liquid architecture.

~ Quincy Jones

It's amazing how much trouble you can get in when you don't have anything else to do.

~ Quincy Jones

I tell my kids and I tell proteges, always have humility when you create and grace when you succeed, because it's not about you. You are a terminal for a higher power. As soon as you accept that, you can do it forever.

~ Quincy Jones

Young people should travel, and they don't. You can't know if you don't go.

~ Quincy Jones

I travel like a maniac. I travel more than anyone I know. I love learning the languages.

~ Quincy Jones

Music in movies is all about dissonance and consonance, tension and release.

~ Quincy Jones

Imagine what a harmonious world it could be if every single person, both young and old shared a little of what he is good at doing.

~ Quincy Jones

Bebop and hip-hop, in so many ways, they're connected. A lot of rappers remind me so much of bebop guys in terms of improvisation, beats and rhymes. My dream is to see hip-hop incorporated in education. You've got the youth of the world in the palm of your hand.

~ Quincy Jones

I was raised in Chicago and I guess that was one of the special breeding grounds for gangsters of all colors. That was the Detroit of the gangster world. The car industry was thugs.

~ Quincy Jones