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“If you understood everything I said, you’d be me”
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“Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.”
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“Don't play what's there; play what's not there.”
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“Do not fear mistakes - there are none. ”
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“It’s like, how did Columbus discover America when the Indians were already here? What kind of shit is that, but white people’s shit?”
― Miles: The Autobiography
― Miles: The Autobiography
“Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.”
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“My future starts when I wake up every morning. Every day I find something creative to do with my life.”
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“Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery.”
― Miles: The Autobiography
― Miles: The Autobiography
“When you’re creating your own shit, man, even the sky ain’t the limit.”
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“It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.”
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“you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.”
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“It's not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.”
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“Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is.”
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“Some day I'm gonna call me up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.”
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“If you sacrifice your art because of some woman, or some man, or for some color, or for some wealth, you can't be trusted.”
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“I remember one time - it might have been a couple times - at the Fillmore East in 1970, I was opening for this sorry-ass cat named Steve Miller. Steve Miller didn't have his shit going for him, so I'm pissed because I got to open for this non-playing motherfucker just because he had one or two sorry-ass records out. So I would come late and he would have to go on first and then we got there we smoked the motherfucking place, everybody dug it.”
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“Music is an addiction.”
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“I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light.”
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“For me, music and life are all about style.”
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“I always listen to what I can leave out.”
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“I know what I’ve done for music, but don’t call me “a legend”.(…) A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I’m still doing it.”
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“A lot of people ask me where music is going today. I think it's going in short phrases. If you listen, anybody with an ear can hear that. Music is always changing. It changes because of the times and the technology that's available, the material that things are made of, like plastic cars instead of steel. So when you hear an accident today it sounds different, not all the metal colliding like it was in the forties and fifties. Musicians pick up sounds and incorporate that into their playing, so the music that they make will be different.”
― Miles: The Autobiography
― Miles: The Autobiography
“I hate how white people always try to take credit for something after they discover it. Like it wasn't happening before they found out about it--which most times is always late, and they didn't have nothing to do with it happening.”
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“If you don't know what to play, play nothing.”
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“Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.”
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“WE WERE ALL UP IN THAT SHIT LIKE A MUTHAFUCKA. IT'S CLEANER THAN A BROKE DICK DOG.”
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“Time isn't the main thing. It's the only thing.”
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“But you've got to have style in whatever you do -- writing, music, painting, fashion, boxing, anything.”
― Miles: The Autobiography
― Miles: The Autobiography
“Do not fear mistakes, there are none.”
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“Philly Joe was a bitch. If he'd been a lawyer and white, he would have been president of the United States, because in order to get there you gotta talk fast and carry a lot of bullshit with you; Philly had it all and a lot to spare.”
― Miles: The Autobiography
― Miles: The Autobiography
