W. C. Handy

I think America concedes that (true American music) has sprung from the negro. When we take these things that come from the art of the Negro and from the heart of the man farthest down.

— W. C. Handy

Life is like a trumpet. If you don't put anything into it, you don't get anything out.

— W. C. Handy

If my serenade of song and story should serve as a pillow for some composer's head, as yet perhaps unborn, to dream and build on our fond melodies in his tomorrow, I have not labored in vain.

— W. C. Handy