John Coltrane quotes

John Coltrane was an influential American jazz saxophonist and composer. His innovative approach helped shape the development of modern jazz and inspired generations of musicians. He remains a legendary figure, celebrated for his creativity and spiritual depth in music. Here are 37 of his quotes:

God breathes through us so completely...So gently we hardly feel it...yet it is our everything.

John Coltrane

All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.

John Coltrane

I'd like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.

John Coltrane

Keep a thing happenin' all throughout.

John Coltrane

I thought about this question. I answered it as best I could [at the press conference]. I felt I didn't tell [the reporter] what I really wanted to say. He thought I was Christian. And I am by birth; my parents were and my early teachings were Christian. But as I look upon the world, I feel all men know the truth. If a man was a Christian, he could know the truth and he could not. The truth itself does not have any name on it. And each man has to find it for himself, I think.

John Coltrane

Rushin' Lullaby.

John Coltrane

All of the technique doesn't matter... only if the feeling is right.

John Coltrane

I think I was first awakened to musical exploration by Dizzy Gillespie and Bird. It was through their work that I began to learn about musical structures and the more theoretical aspects of music.

John Coltrane

I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once.

John Coltrane

You can play a shoestring if you're sincere.

John Coltrane

I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe.

John Coltrane

I think music is an instrument. It can create the initial thought patterns that can change the thinking of the people.

John Coltrane

I believe that men are here to grow themselves into best good that they can be - at least, this is what I want to do.

John Coltrane

I've always felt that even though a man was not a Christian, he still has to know the truth some way or another. Or if he was a Christian, he could know the truth. The truth itself doesn't have any name on it to me. And each man has to find this for himself, I think.

John Coltrane

My goal is to live the truly religious life and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there's no problem because the music is just part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am-my faith, my knowledge, my being.

John Coltrane

Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music as if for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Being so inescapably a part of it, I'll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels, and that's too bad.

John Coltrane

One positive thought produces millions of positive vibrations.

John Coltrane

Invest yourself in everything you do. There's fun in being serious.

John Coltrane

Don't ever get so big or important that you can not hear and listen to every other person.

John Coltrane

The real risk is not changing. I have to feel that I'm after something. If I make money, fine. But I'd rather be striving. It's the striving, man, it's that I want.

John Coltrane

There is never any end... There are always new sounds to imagine; new feelings to get at. And always, there is the need to keep purifying these feelings and sounds so that we can really see what we've discovered in its pure state.

John Coltrane

All a musician can do is to get closer to the source.

John Coltrane