>>>I think it was Eddie Condon who, when asked if he could read music, said, "Yes, but not well enough to hurt my playing."
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>>My favorite jazz quote was from the Duke himself. Asked if he ever borrowed musical ideas from others, Ellington said, "Immature artists borrow. Mature artists steal."
>
>Maybe he stole < g > that from Picasso: "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

Speaking of Picasso, he once said:

When I was a child, my mother said to me, "If you become a soldier, you will become a general. If you become a monk, then you will end up as a Pope." Instead I became a painter, and wound up as Picasso.