Sonny Rollins

“The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, so are we all.”

“I've always been my own worst critic.”

“You can't think and play at the same time.”

“Music represents the highest of all ideals.”

“I'm not a god, I'm just a musician.”

“Improvisation is the ability to talk to oneself.”

“I feel that I'm a spiritual person. I'm not a religious person.”

“What I’m looking for is a certain sound that will take me to a place. A place of joy, a place of peace, a place of love.”

“The whole point of what I’m doing is to be in the moment.”

“Music is an open sky.”

“I'm always trying to find something new. It's my nature.”

“I feel that what I'm doing is a calling. I would be doing it regardless of whether I was being paid for it, or not.”

“I believe that we are all put here for a reason, and that reason is to make the world a better place.”

“I'm still trying to find the perfect saxophone sound. I'm just looking for a sound that's characteristic of my ideology.”

“Jazz is the lily in the pond of value.”

“When you hear a great jazz soloist, it's like you're hearing a person thinking out loud.”

“I try to live in a way that is true to myself. I think that's the most important thing.”

“I want to be connecting with the subconscious, if I can call it that, because there are not to be names to things.”