Zitate von Louis Armstrong

„So wie sie meine Leute im Süden behandeln, kann die Regierung zur Hölle gehen.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„Was wir spielen, ist das Leben.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„Sie werden nie wissen, was Jazz bedeutet, wenn Sie sich fragen, was es bedeutet.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„Wenn Sie sich fragen müssen, was Jazz ist, werden Sie es nie erfahren.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„Alle Musik ist Volksmusik. Ich habe noch nie ein Pferd ein Lied singen hören.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„Musiker ziehen sich nicht zurück, sie hören auf, wenn keine Musik mehr in ihnen ist.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„Die Erinnerung an vergangene Dinge ist einem Jazzmusiker wichtig.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„All music is folk music. I ain't never heard a horse sing a song.“

—  Louis Armstrong

Variante: All music is folk music. I ain't never heard a horse sing a song.

„The Brick House was one of the toughest joints I ever played in … Guys would drink and fight one another like circle saws. Bottles would come flying over the bandstand like crazy and there was lots of plain common shooting and cutting. But somehow all that jive didn't faze me at all. I was so happy to have some place to blow my horn.“

—  Louis Armstrong

Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans (1954)

„The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell.“

—  Louis Armstrong

As quoted in The New York Times (19 September 1957)]

„Making money ain't nothing exciting to me. … You might be able to buy a little better booze than some wino on the corner. But you get sick just like the next cat, and when you die you're just as graveyard dead as he is.“

—  Louis Armstrong

Ebony magazine, November 1964 http://books.google.com/books?id=G98DAAAAMBAJ&q=%22making+money+ain't+nothing+exciting+to+me%22+%22You+might+be+able+to+buy+a+little+better+booze+than+some+wino+on+the+corner+But+you+get+sick+just+like+the+next+cat+and+when+you+die+you're+just+as+graveyard+dead+as+he+is%22&pg=PA138#v=onepage

„The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. “

—  Louis Armstrong

„Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„Seems to me it ain't the world that's so bad but what we're doing to it, and all I'm saying is: see what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love, baby - love. That's the secret.“

—  Louis Armstrong

Spoken intro to "What a Wonderful World" (1970 version)
Kontext: Seems to me, it aint the world that's so bad but what we're doin' to it. And all I'm saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be a gasser. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.
Kontext: Some of you young folks been saying to me, "Hey Pops, what you mean 'What a wonderful world'? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? That aint so wonderful either." Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute. Seems to me, it aint the world that's so bad but what we're doin' to it. And all I'm saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be a gasser. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.

„You will never know what the meaning of Jazz is if ask what it means.“

—  Louis Armstrong

„What we play is life.“

—  Louis Armstrong

Variante: What we play is life.
Quelle: Louis Armstrong, in His Own Words: Selected Writings

„If you still have to ask, shame on you“

—  Louis Armstrong

Armstrong's response to the question what jazz is, cited by Max Jones et. al.: "Salute to Satchmo", I.P.C. Specialist & Professional Press Ltd 1970, page 25
Often misquoted as "Man, if you gotta ask you'll never know." Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations (third edition)