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

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

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

Education is all a matter of building bridges.

Education is all a matter of building bridges.

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...

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

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

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....

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...

There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists,...

There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists,...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and...

Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and...

The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead.

The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead.

Commercial rock 'n' roll music is a brutalization of the stream of contemporary Negro church...

Commercial rock 'n' roll music is a brutalization of the stream of contemporary Negro church...

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 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...

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...

There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.

There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.