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The young very seldom lead anything in our country today. It's been quite some time since a younger generation pushed an older one to a higher standard.
Wynton Marsalis
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Younger generations are not effectively leading or inspiring older generations to improve.

This quote by Wynton Marsalis highlights a perceived disconnect between generations, suggesting that young people today are not taking the initiative to lead or challenge older generations. It implies that without this vital push from the youth, society may miss opportunities for growth and higher standards of excellence.

Themes

LeadershipYouthGenerationsStandardsInspiration

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the influence of youth activism in the present day.

More from Wynton Marsalis

Swing is extreme coordination. It's a maintaining balance, equilibrium. It's about executing very difficult rhythms with a panache and a feeling in the context of very strict time. So, everything about the swing is about some guideline and some grid and the elegant way that you negotiate your way through that grid.
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Many of our greatest musicians abandoned all of their aesthetic objectives to try to become pertinent. And, at the end of the day, they never became pop stars. I counter stated that very strongly, and I continue to do that.
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Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It's conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as they make split-second decisions to fulfill what they feel the moment requires.
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The blues. It runs through all American music. Somebody bending the note. The other is the two-beat groove. It's in New Orleans music, it's in jazz, it's in country music, it's in gospel.
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In Jazz, improvisation isn't a matter of just making any ol' thing up. Jazz, like any language, has its own grammer and vocabulary. There's no right or wrong, just some choices that are better than others.
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My daddy thought - no, he expected - that my brothers and I and our generation would make the world a better place. He was correct in his belief because he had lived in an America of continual social progress, depression followed by prosperity, segregation by integration, and so on.
Wynton MarsalisRead

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Quote by Wynton Marsalis | QuoteProject