Louis Armstrong Quotes

It really puzzles me to see marijuana connected with narcotics dope and all of that stuff. It is a thousand times better than whiskey. It is an assistant and a friend.

The best I can do is stay happy.

If ya ain’t got it in ya, ya can’t blow it out.

Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.

There is two kinds of music, the good, and the bad. I play the good kind.

When the other kids started calling me nicknames, I knew everything was all right. I have a pretty big mouth, so they hit on that and began calling me Gatemouth or Satchelmouth, and that Satchelmouth has stuck to me all my life, except that now it’s been made into ‘Satchmo’ – ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong.

If I don’t practice for a day, I know it. If I don’t practice for two days, the critics know it. And if I don’t practice for three days, the public knows it.

A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.

We all do ‘do, re, mi,’ but you have got to find the other notes yourself.

Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine, I look right into the heart of good old New Orleans. It has given me something to live for.

Seems to me, it aint the world that’s so bad but what we’re doin’ to it. And all I’m saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we’d give it a chance. Love baby, love. That’s the secret…

What we play is life.

I never want to be anything more than I am; what I don’t have, I don’t need.

I was determined to play my horn against all odds, and I had to sacrifice a whole lot of pleasure to do so.