Explore Quotes by John Philip Sousa

I still feel the impulse to give young writers a hearing, and I believe I have played more unpublished compositions than any other band leader in the country.

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

You can't drive a Spike with a Tack Hammer

The vocal cord will be eliminated by a process of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from the ape.

Grand opera is the most powerful of stage appeals and that almost entirely through the beauty of music.

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

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.

My success is not due to any personal superiority over other people.

Dance as though no one is watching. Love as though you've never been hurt. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.

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

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