I understand about the relative strengths of people, and I don't think people have to be anything. They can be nothin' if they want to be.

Next quotes

• Cecil Taylor:

  Mother, being a pianist, told me how to play with my fingers on the piano.

• Cecil Taylor:

  When I came out of the conservatory, the first thing I did was to go see Thelonious Monk.

• Cecil Taylor:

  The first record I made, when I listen to it, I understand. I understand perfectly well why certain

• Cecil Taylor:

  One of the things Mother said to me, 'You want this, you're going to practice.' And I know how to p

• Cecil Taylor:

  Fats - very funny man, but every note that he played was like a pearl.

• Cecil Taylor:

  When you play, when you perform, it might be for the last time, so you got to do it.

• Cecil Taylor:

  They say, 'We will give you money, but we want you to play this or that.' And I always thought, 'If

• Cecil Taylor:

  I've always tried to be a poet more than anything else. I mean, professional musicians die.

• Cecil Taylor:

  I'm saying that people who are enmeshed in situations of subjugation and have to live, have to find

• Cecil Taylor:

  You know what the material is so that you never play it the same way twice.