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Since the white man says he came from the evolution of animals, well, maybe the black man didn't. The white man has made so many errors in the handling of people that maybe he did come from a gorilla or a fish and crawl up on the sand and then into the trees. Of course, evolution doesn't take God into consideration. I don't think people learned to do all the things they do through evolution.

— Charles Mingus More Than A Fakebook : The Music Of Charles Mingus (1991)

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More quotes by Charles Mingus

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

What do you think happens to a composer who is sincere and loves to write and has to wait thirty years to have someone play a piece of his music?

Setting the Tempo : Fifty Years of Great Jazz Liner Notes (1996)

In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it's difficult is because I'm changing all the time.

Good jazz is when the leader jumps on the piano, waves his arms, and yells.

I always wanted to be a spontaneous composer.

What Is A Jazz Composer? (1971)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Charles Mingus (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.