Benny Goodman Quotes

#1. If a guy's got it, let him give it. I'm selling music, not prejudice.

Benny Goodman

#2. After you've done all the work and prepared as much as you can, what the hell, you might as well go out and have a good time.

Benny Goodman

#3. Too many young musicians today want to win polls before they learn their instruments.

Benny Goodman

#4. You have to look good.

Benny Goodman

#5. I remember Glenn Miller coming to me once, before he had his own band, saying, How do you do it? How do you get started? It's so difficult. I told him, I don't know but whatever you do don't stop. Just keep on going.

Benny Goodman

#6. One way or the other, if you want to find reasons why you shouldn't keep on, you'll find 'em. The obstacles are all there; there are a million of 'em.

Benny Goodman

#7. I don't have any great love for Chicago. What the hell, a childhood around Douglas Park isn't very memorable. I remember the street fights and how you were afraid to cross the bridge 'cause the Irish kid on the other side would beat your head in. I left Chicago a long time ago.

Benny Goodman

#8. If you want to do something, you do it anyway, and handle the obstacles as they come.

Benny Goodman

#9. Creativity grows out of two things: curiosity & imagination.

Benny Goodman

#10. That night at Carnegie Hall was a great experience. When the thing was first put up to me I was a little dubious, not knowing just what would be expected of us.

Benny Goodman

#11. People have often said to me, 'You're so relaxed when you play.' Relaxed my elbow. It's practice.

Benny Goodman

#12. Sometimes when you start losing detail, whether it's in music or in life, something as small as failing to be polite, you start to lose substance.

Benny Goodman

#13. Some of the overflow audience actually sat on the stage.

Benny Goodman

#14. It takes the black keys and the white keys both, to make perfect harmony.

Benny Goodman

#15. If I have something I want to do, I make a business of doing it.

Benny Goodman

#16. To this day, I don't like people walking on stage not looking good. You have to look good. If you feel special about yourself then you're going to play special.

Benny Goodman

#17. As soon as it was understood that we could handle things in our own way, it was the thrill of my life to walk out on that stage with people just hemming the band in.

Benny Goodman