I hope that on my tombstone it says 'Born 1933, died 2043.' I hope that's my legacy.
Interpretation
Quincy Jones expresses a wish for his legacy to reflect the years he spent contributing to the world.
In this quote, Quincy Jones conveys a desire for people to remember him not just for his achievements, but for the impact he made during his lifetime. By highlighting the dates of his birth and death, he emphasizes the importance of the journey in between, suggesting that true legacy is measured by how one lives and influences others.
In practice
During a speech at a memorial service, I might quote Quincy Jones to highlight the importance of shaping one's legacy.
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.
As a minority, no sooner do you learn to polish and cherish one chip on your shoulder than it's taken off you and swapped for another. The jewellery of your struggles is forever on loan, like the Koh-i-Noor diamond in the crown jewels.
The fear of becoming old is born of the recognition that one is not living now the life that one wishes.
It is normal to give away a little of one's life in order not to lose it all.
If I can't feel, if I can't move, if I can't think, and I can't care, then what conceivable point is there in living?
The musty smell, the bugs, the lonliness, this room, which is part of the street outside-this is all I want from life.
Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point β a great crossroads in our life.
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