A Quote by Cecil Taylor

Someone once asked me if I was gay. I said, 'Do you think a three-letter word defines the complexity of my humanity?' I avoid the trap of easy definition. — © Cecil Taylor
Someone once asked me if I was gay. I said, 'Do you think a three-letter word defines the complexity of my humanity?' I avoid the trap of easy definition.
My favorite six letter word is always because it promises so much. My favorite five letter word is never because it insists on contradicting the promise. My favorite four letter word is once because it says it happened then. My favorite three letter word is yes because I’m just now learning to say it to my heart. My favorite two letter word is if because it makes all things possible like this: If not always If not never Then once. Yes.
Once someone asked me three words that best describe me and I said 'Loud, Louder, and Loudest.'
Once someone asked me three words that best describe me and I said 'Loud, Louder, and Loudest'!
Think about these things and see if they make sense to you. You will find that work will no longer be a four-letter word. It will be a three-letter word: fun.
Darling, You asked me to write you a letter, so I am writing you a letter. I do not know why I am writing you this letter, or what this letter is supposed to be about, but I am writing it nonetheless, because I love you very much and trust that you have some good purpose for having me write this letter. I hope that one day you will have the experience of doing something you do not understand for someone you love. Your father
Someone asked me if I would like to write a man on death row, be a pen pal, and I was like, sure. I volunteered. I had been in a place in my life - a relationship had ended; my parents were getting elderly - I was kind of adrift. The name that was given to me, just randomly, was Todd Willingham. And he wrote me a letter, and in this letter, he thanked me for writing him and [said that] if I would like to visit, he would put me on his visitor list... I was just really struck by the letter from Todd. It was very polite; it was very kind.
Someone asked me once what my philosophy of life was, and I said some crazy thing. I should have said, how the hell do I know?
ART, n. This word has no definition. Its origin is related by the ingenious Father Gassalasca Jape as "One day a wag - what would the wretch be at? Shifted a letter of the cipher RAT, And said it was a god's name! . . ."
I think we will make it. Because one quality people have - certainly Americans have it - is that they can adapt when they see necessity staring them in the face. What to avoid is what someone once called the definition of hell: truth realized too late.
When people have asked me in the past if I'm gay, I've said "I'm not gay, but I'm festive."
I met with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in February. So he'd been in office about a month. It was for an hour. Went over there on a Saturday. They invite... Reince Priebus called and said, "The president wants to see you." He never once asked me what I thought. He never asked me once what he thought I ought to do. He never asked me what I think of this or that. My impression is this man is more self-informed and decisive.
Sometimes, you know, once you pay your taxes and once you pay your expenses, once you've lived this life, things add up quickly. And it's easy to become a statistic. And that's something I've always tried to avoid, and I've always said, hey - not that it won't be me, that, hey, it could be me.
When you have to write a letter, you're automatically put into a state of composure and a kind of formality. You can't help it. So, no, I never once got a letter where someone just popped off at me.
Sometimes I don't write at all. Someone once asked me, "What do you do when you're not writing?" And I said, "I idle."
Someone once asked me "If your life could be extended to 150 and you could start another career, would you?" And I said "No, thanks, I think I'll stick at this."
As I’ve said, I’ve never believed in God, which technically makes me an atheist (since the prefix “a” means “not” or “without”). But I have problems with the word “atheism.” It defines what someone is not rather than what someone is. It would be like calling me an a-instrumentalist for Bad Religion rather than the band’s singer. Defining yourself as against something says very little about what you are for.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!