Louis Armstrong, born in 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana, was a pioneering American jazz trumpeter, vocalist, and influential cultural figure. Known affectionately as “Satchmo” or “Pops,” Armstrong revolutionized jazz with his innovative improvisational style, virtuosic trumpet playing, and gravelly, expressive vocals. Rising to prominence in the 1920s, Armstrong became one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century, shaping the course of jazz and popular music. His recordings, including “West End Blues,” “What a Wonderful World,” and “Hello, Dolly!,” remain iconic classics. Armstrong’s charismatic stage presence and warm personality endeared him to audiences worldwide, breaking racial barriers and becoming a global ambassador for jazz. Beyond his musical contributions, Armstrong was a symbol of resilience and optimism, transcending racial prejudice with his talent and humanity. His enduring legacy continues to inspire generations of musicians and fans, solidifying his place as one of the greatest jazz artists of all time.

Louis Armstrong Quotes

1. “And I think to myself what a wonderful world. Oh, yeah…”
— Louis Armstrong

2. “I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom for me and you. And I think to myself what a wonderful world. I see skies of blue and clouds of white. The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night. And I think to myself what a wonderful world.”
— Louis Armstrong

3. “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.”
— Louis Armstrong

4. “Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.”
— Louis Armstrong

5. “Seems to me it ain’t the world that’s so bad but what we’re doing 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.”
— Louis Armstrong

6. “Not too slow, not too fast. Kind of like half-fast.”
— Louis Armstrong

7. “The best I can do is stay happy.”
— Louis Armstrong

8. “A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.”
— Louis Armstrong

9. “Never play a thing the same way twice.”
— Louis Armstrong

10. “To jazz, or not to jazz, there is no question!”
— Louis Armstrong

11. “Jazz is played from the heart. You can even live by it. Always love it.”
— Louis Armstrong

12. “Don’t do nothing halfway, else you find yourself dropping more than can be picked up.”
— Louis Armstrong

13. “Making money ain’t nothing exciting to me. You might be able to buy a little better booze than the 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

14. “It ain’t whatcha say, it’s the way howcha say it.”
— Louis Armstrong

15. “Each man has his own music bubbling up inside him.”
— Louis Armstrong

16. “You got to love to be able to play.”
— Louis Armstrong

17. “I don’t need words. It’s all in the phrasing.”
— Louis Armstrong

18. “All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song.”
— Louis Armstrong

19. “Jazz is what I play for a living.”
— Louis Armstrong

20. “You see, pops, that’s the kind of talk that’s ruining the music. Everyone’s trying to do something new, no one trying to learn the fundamentals first. All them young cats playing their wierd chords. And what happens? No one’s working.”
— Louis Armstrong

21. “If ya ain’t got it in ya, ya can’t blow it out.”
— Louis Armstrong

22. “My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn.”
— Louis Armstrong

23. “There’s only two ways to sum up music; either it’s good or it’s bad. If it’s good you don’t mess about it, you just enjoy it.”
— Louis Armstrong

24. “We all do ‘do, re, mi,’ but you have got to find the other notes yourself.”
— Louis Armstrong

25. “You either have it or you don’t. You play your horn just like you sing a song or a hymn. If it’s in your heart, you express yourself in the tune.”
— Louis Armstrong

26. “There’s some folks, that, if they don’t know, you can’t tell ’em.”
— Louis Armstrong

27. “If you don’t understand it, don’t mess with it.”
— Louis Armstrong

28. “You will never know what the meaning of Jazz is if ask what it means.”
— Louis Armstrong

29. “If you still have to ask, shame on you.”
— Louis Armstrong

30. “We don’t play slow and we don’t play fast, we play half fast.”
— Louis Armstrong

31. “If it hadn’t been for Jazz, there wouldn’t be no rock and roll.”
— Louis Armstrong

32. “I’m a spade, you’re an ofay. Let’s play.”
— Louis Armstrong

33. “There is no such thing as ‘on the way out’ as long as you are still doing something interesting and good; you’re in the business because you’re breathing.”
— Louis Armstrong

34. “Unless you know what it is I ain’t never going to be able to explain it to you.”
— Louis Armstrong

35. “You can’t take it for granted. Even if we have two, three days off I still have to blow that horn a few hours to keep up the chops. I mean I’ve been playing 50 years, and that’s what I’ve been doing in order to keep in that groove there.”
— Louis Armstrong

36. “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.”
— Louis Armstrong

37. “I got a simple rule about everybody. If you don’t treat me right – shame on you.”
— Louis Armstrong

38. “The Bright Blessed Day, the Dark Sacred Night.”
— Louis Armstrong

39. “My life has always been my music, it’s always come first, but the music ain’t worth nothing if you can’t lay it on the public. The main thing is to live for that audience, ’cause what you’re there for is to please the people.”
— Louis Armstrong

40. “I don’t get involved in politics. I just blow my horn.”
— Louis Armstrong

41. “The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.”
— Louis Armstrong

42. “Red beans and ricely yours.”
— Louis Armstrong

43. “The way they are treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell!”
— Louis Armstrong

44. “You’ve got to be good or as bad as the devil.”
— Louis Armstrong

45. “Love is talkative passion.”
— Louis Armstrong

46. “When I was young and very green, I worte that tune, Sister Kate, and someone said that’s fine, let me publish it for you. I’ll give you fifty dollars. I didn’t know nothing about papers, and business, and I sold it outright.”
— Louis Armstrong

47. “Music is either good or bad, and it’s got to be learned. You got to have balance.”
— Louis Armstrong

48. “When you’re dead, you’re done.”
— Louis Armstrong

49. “What we play is life.”
— Louis Armstrong

50. “White folks still in the lead.”
— Louis Armstrong

51. “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.”
— Louis Armstrong

52. “As a youngster in the little orphanage home in New Orleans, I was the bugler of the institution. When I got to be around 13 or 14 years old, they took me off the bugle and put me in the little brass band.”
— Louis Armstrong

53. “What is Jazz? Dude, if you have to ask, you’ll never know.”
— Louis Armstrong

54. “At first it was just a misdemeanor, but then you lost the “mis-de” and you just got meaner and meaner…”
— Louis Armstrong

55. “There’s a thing I’ve dreamed of all my life, and I’ll be damned if it don’t look like it’s about to come true-to be King of the Zulu’s parade. After that, I’ll be ready to die.”
— Louis Armstrong

56. “If you have to ask what jazz is you will never know.” Louis Armstrong.”
— Louis Armstrong

57. “It’s getting almost so bad a colored man hasn’t got any country.”
— Louis Armstrong

58. “I had a chance to play with the best musicians that were coming through because I was pretty good myself or else they wouldn’t have tolerated with me.”
— Louis Armstrong

59. “The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician.”
— Louis Armstrong