John Philip Sousa

“No nation as young as America can be expected to become immediately a power in the arts.”

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

“American teachers have one indisputable advantage over foreign ones; they understand the American temperament and can judge its unevenness, its lights and its shadows.”

“To the average mind popular music would mean compositions vulgarly conceived and commonplace in their treatment. That is absolutely false.”

“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 is equal to the composition the balance of a wind combination is more satisfying.”

“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 they can be surpassed in that respect.”

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

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

“From childhood I was passionately fond of music and wanted to be a musician. I have no recollection of any real desire ever to be anything else.”

“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 must hear it, and such a process takes time.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Sincere composers believe in God.”

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

“I still feel the impulse to give young writers a hearing, and I believe I have played more unpublished compositions than any other band leader in the country.”

“My religion lies in my composition.”

“Composers are the only people who can hear good music above bad sounds.”

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

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