Top 12 Paul Desmond Quotes

You're beginning to sound like a cross between David Frost and David Susskind, and that is a cross I cannot bear.

Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can’t be taught.

Well, that I'm not playing better.

Sometimes I get the feeling that there are orgies going on all over New York City, and somebody says, `Let's call Desmond,' and somebody else says,'Why bother? He's probably home reading the Encyclopedia Britannica.'

Not for me. If I want to tune everybody out, I just take off my glasses and enjoy the haze.

It's like living in a house where everything's painted red.

I was unfashionable before anyone knew who I was.

I tried practicing for a few weeks and ended up playing too fast.

I think I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to sound like a dry martini.

I have won several prizes as the world’s slowest alto player, as well as a special award in 1961 for quietness.

I hate the way he writes. I kind of love the way he lives, though.

I could only write at the beach, and I kept getting sand in my typewriter.