Quotes from John Philip Sousa

Grand opera is the most powerful of stage appeals and that almost entirely through the beauty of music.

My religion lies in my composition.

I have always believed that 98% of a student's progress is due to his own efforts, and 2% to his teacher.

A flag appears 'mid thunderous cheers, The banner of the Western land. The emblem of the brave and true

Dance as though no one is watching. Love as though you've never been hurt. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.

Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.

I am happy now, to recall that I was not only his son but his companion, and whenever there was a hunting expedition or any other pleasure, I was always with him.

To the average mind popular music would mean compositions vulgarly conceived and commonplace in their treatment. That is absolutely false.

Jazz will endure just as long as people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.

Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter heart and soul into the life of the music and the tale it unfolds?

I think that the quality of all bands is steadily improving and it is a pleasant thought to me that perhaps the efforts of Sousa's Band have quickened that interest and improved that quality.

No nation as young as America can be expected to become immediately a power in the arts.

Remember always that the composer's pen is still mightier than the bow of the violinist; in you lie all the possibilities of the creation of beauty.

From childhood I was passionately fond of music and wanted to be a musician. I have no recollection of any real desire ever to be anything else.