Louis Armstrong quotes

Louis Armstrong was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer who became one of the most influential figures in music. His charismatic stage presence and unique voice brought jazz to a global audience. He transformed the genre with his virtuoso trumpet playing and unforgettable performances. Here are 16 of his quotes:

All music is folk music. I ain't never heard a horse sing a song.

Louis Armstrong

What we play is life.

Louis Armstrong

The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician.

Louis Armstrong

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

Louis Armstrong

If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.

Louis Armstrong

The Brick House was one of the toughest joints I ever played in ... Guys would drink and fight one another like circle saws. Bottles would come flying over the bandstand like crazy and there was lots of plain common shooting and cutting. But somehow all that jive didn't faze me at all. I was so happy to have some place to blow my horn.

Louis Armstrong

The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell.

Louis Armstrong

Making money ain't nothing exciting to me. ... You might be able to buy a little better booze than some wino on the corner. But you get sick just like the next cat, and when you die you're just as graveyard dead as he is.

Louis Armstrong

If you still have to ask, shame on you.

Louis Armstrong

You will never know what the meaning of Jazz is if ask what it means.

Louis Armstrong

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, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be a gasser. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.

Louis Armstrong

You blows who you is.

Louis Armstrong

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

Louis Armstrong

Some of you young folks been saying to me, "Hey Pops, what you mean 'What a wonderful world'? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? That aint so wonderful either." Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute. 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, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be a gasser. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.

Louis Armstrong