Eclecticism is the word. Like a jazz musician who creates his own style out of the styles around him, I play by ear.

Quote by Ralph Ellison

Topics: Jazz Quotes

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried...

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried...

I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone,...

I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone,...

I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed...

I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed...

I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed...

I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed...

By and large, the critics and readers gave me an affirmed sense of my identity...

By and large, the critics and readers gave me an affirmed sense of my identity...

If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also...

If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also...

The understanding of art depends finally upon one's willingness to extend one's humanity and one's...

The understanding of art depends finally upon one's willingness to extend one's humanity and one's...

When I discover who I am, I'll be free.

When I discover who I am, I'll be free.

Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play...

Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play...

America is woven of many strands. I would recognise them and let it so remain....

America is woven of many strands. I would recognise them and let it so remain....

Education is all a matter of building bridges

Education is all a matter of building bridges

When I discover who I am, I'll be free.

When I discover who I am, I'll be free.

Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked.

Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked.

The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past...

The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past...

The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past...

The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past...

Hibernation is a covert preparation for a more overt action.

Hibernation is a covert preparation for a more overt action.

Good fiction is made of that which is real, and reality is difficult to come...

Good fiction is made of that which is real, and reality is difficult to come...

Education is all a matter of building bridges.

Education is all a matter of building bridges.

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

Some people are your relatives but others are your ancestors, and you choose the ones...

Some people are your relatives but others are your ancestors, and you choose the ones...