I don't deserve a Songwriters Hall of Fame Award. But fifteen years ago, I had a brain operation and I didn't deserve that, either. So I'll keep it.
Interpretation
The quote reflects humility and the acceptance of undeserved recognition, highlighting the complexities of life experiences.
Quincy Jones expresses a sense of humility regarding his recognition by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, acknowledging that he feels he does not deserve it. He contrasts this with a life-altering experience of undergoing a brain operation, suggesting that sometimes we are bestowed with blessings even when we least feel worthy of them. This indicates a philosophical view on the unpredictability of life and the merits of accepting what comes our way, regardless of feelings of deservingness.
In practice
Discussing the importance of humility in accepting awards during a speech.
Just blow in it and sound bad for about a year and then make it sound a little bit better, and you get a little band together, and then you get a few jobs. You take four guys that sound half bad, but if they're 25 percent each, they can give 100 percent, you know?
Music in movies is all about dissonance and consonance, tension and release.
When you produce an album, you're dealing with it theatrically. It has to have a structure, and the inner response to that is that the ear loves it.
You can study orchestration, you can study harmony and theory and everything else, but melodies come straight from God.
I got a scholarship to Seattle University and I was writing arrangements for singers and everybody. But the music course was too dry and I really wanted to get away from home.
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.
When I was 26, I wrote my first mystery, 'The Thomas Berryman Number', and it was turned down by, I don't know, 31 publishers. Then it won an Edgar for Best First Novel. Go figure.
I don't want to be the next Mark Spitz; I want to be the first Michael Phelps
The great conquest is the result of small, unnoticed victories.
Ambition is the immoderate desire for honor.
Reward worthy failure - Experimentation.
All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don't discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.
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