J. J. Johnson Quotes

The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources--because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples.

Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.

The body is an amazing machine... If you eat the right things your body will perform incredibly well!

If you look at history, innovation doesn't come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating environments where their ideas can connect.

No member of our generation who wasn't a Communist or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn.

Being right keeps you in place, being wrong forces you to explore.

You spend so much time in your profession it ought to be something you love.

The place where light and dark begin to touch is where miracles arise.

Being single also sucks sometimes because you're single.

Always have fun with fashion. Dress to entertain yourself.

Not only do I think being nice and kind is easy but being kind, in my opinion, is important.

Did you ever think that making a speech on economy is a lot like pissing down your leg? It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.

Hard times always lead to something great.

Through my music teaching and my not absolutely irregular attendance at church, I became acquainted with the best class of colored people in Jacksonville.

I am a businessman. This is what I do each and every day. I love it. I love coming to work. I never have a bad day.

Life's too short to drink bad wine or smoke poor cigars.

No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it.... There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government.

It is the just doom of laziness and gluttony to be inactive without ease and drowsy without tranquility.

When one has seen something of the world and human nature, one must conclude, after all, that between people in like stations of life there is very little difference the world over.

With drive and a bit of talent, you can move mountains.

Anybody can build a building, putting some doors into it, but how many times have you been in a building that moves you to tears the way Beethoven's 'Eighth' does?

'If you let a bully come in and chase you out of your front yard, he'll be on your porch and the next day he'll rape your wife in your own bed.

Automatically thinking ‘everything that happens is God’s will’ is a lazy way to live. We live in a war. Jesus wasn’t fighting the Father’s will when He raised the dead.

When I see a barrier, I cry and I curse, and then I get a ladder and climb over it.

Sanskrit has ninety-six words for love; ancient Persian has eighty; Greek three; and English simply one.

Anytime there is a struggle between doing what is actually right and doing what seems right, then your ego is interfering with your decision.

From this day forward, speak to yourself in a way that you would someone you care about.

Doing a house is so much harder than doing a skyscraper.

I didnt finish the stories until we went to the Philippines and I got malaria. I couldnt work and I didnt have any money, but I had seven stories. So I wrote three or four more.

The CIA is made up of boys whose families sent them to Princeton but wouldn't let them into the family brokerage business.

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.

History has always been a series of pendulum swings, but the individual doesn't have to get caught in that.

Dream small dreams. If you make them too big, you get overwhelmed and you don't do anything. If you make small goals and accomplish them, it gives you the confidence to go on to higher goals.

I thought of Paris as a beauty spot on the face of the earth, and of London as a big freckle.

Bible study without Bible experience is pointless.

The only people I have ever seen paint successfully, consistently, with great authority, unselfconsciously and without fear of failing were about four years old.

Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.

I make the road. I draw the map. Nothing just happens to me...I'm the one happening.

To have any doubt in your body is the biggest weakness an athlete can have. There are times when I physically can't get myself to go for a skill because I'm thinking, 'My knee hurts really bad.'

You learn as much from those who have failed as from those who have succeeded.

I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You've got to just stand there and take it.

You don't need directions, just point yourself to the top and go!

The only one who can beat me is me.

My right side is paralyzed. I need no doctor. I can overcome my own troubles.

Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument.

The noblest search is the search for excellence.

Languages are the pedigree of nations.

My destiny is to go to heaven, my responsibility is to bring heaven.

If architects weren't arrogant, they wouldn't be architects. I don't know a modest good architect.