The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.
Louis ArmstrongRead
When the other kids started calling me nicknames, I knew everything was all right. I have a pretty big mouth, so they hit on that and began calling me Gatemouth or Satchelmouth, and that Satchelmouth has stuck to me all my life, except that now it's been made into 'Satchmo' - 'Satchmo' Armstrong.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embracing and accepting one's unique identity can bring comfort and belonging.
In this quote, Louis Armstrong reflects on how being given nicknames by his peers, particularly the playful ones like 'Gatemouth' and 'Satchelmouth,' helped him embrace his individuality and find solace in his differences. Rather than being bullied, these monikers became a source of pride and identity, ultimately transforming into 'Satchmo,' a name that has become synonymous with his legacy as a legendary musician.
Themes
IdentityNicknamesAcceptanceUniquenessBelongingPride
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal growth, one might say, 'Embrate the unique traits that shape your identity, as Louis Armstrong once reflected on his childhood nicknames.'
More from Louis Armstrong
All quotes →Making money ain't nothing exciting to me. You might be able to buy a little better booze than the wino on the corner. But you get sick just like the next cat and when you die you're just as graveyard dead as he is.
Louis ArmstrongRead
Very few of the men whose names have become great in the early pioneering of jazz and of swing were trained in music at all. They were born musicians: they felt their music and played by ear and memory. That was the way it was with the great Dixieland Five.
Louis ArmstrongRead
My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn.
Louis ArmstrongRead
I've Got the World on a String.
Louis ArmstrongRead
It's America's classical music ... this becomes our tradition ... the bottom line of any country in the world is what did we contribute to the world? ... we contributed Louis Armstrong
Louis ArmstrongRead
Similar quotes
All children, except one, grow up.
James M. BarrieRead
They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten.
William GoldingRead
Cobb lived off the field as though he wished to live forever. He lived on the field as though it was his last day.
Branch RickeyRead
Oh, darling, I've been so miserable.
Ernest HemingwayRead
You'll be old and you never lived, and you kind of feel silly to lie down and die and to never have lived, to have been a job chaser and never have lived.
Gertrude SteinRead
You really didn't see the sadness or the longing unless you already knew it was there. But that was the trick, wasn't it? Everyone had their disappointment and their baggage; only, some people carried it in their inside pockets and not on their backs.
Maggie StiefvaterRead