Leo Kottke Quotes

To stay a great singer or guitar player, you've got to do it 24/7. That's what I do.

I'd like just to be remembered as a guy that came along and did his music, did his best and showed up on time, clean and ready to do the job, wrote a few songs, and had a hell of a time.

Musical success depends on how much you enjoy it and how much you are willing to put in. Luck must follow, too.

Luck has a lot to do with being a musician.

If you cannot have fun on a set and enjoy what you're doing, you're better off giving it up.

Singing didn't really come naturally to me, I don't think. I had to really work at it. I just kept singing. I never was really worried about it, though, because I was writing songs, and that was the most important thing to me.

When you love something, it doesn't feel like work.

I certainly can't complain. I work six days a week, if not seven, and eighteen hours out of twenty-four - fortunately, with a great deal of pleasure. Why? Because I only do something if I want to do it; I need to feel a desire, to find pleasure in moving forward, creating, moving, inventing.

We make music for a living. Like I've always said, if you like what you're doing, you're halfway there; if someone else likes it, that's even better. If they don't like it, at least you like it. Not to be selfish, but you kind of have to be.

All he wants to do is practice and that's all he does, all day long. That's what it takes if you want to change the face of music. You've gotta be committed to it.

I had no aspirations to be a musician, but I picked up a guitar for two seconds and haven't put it down since.

I just keep working on things I like, and hope for the best. I hope people enjoy them.

I believe in professionalism, but playing is not like a job. You have to be grateful to have the opportunity to play.

Nobody can be successful if he doesn't love his work, love his job.

I do music for the love of it, and I've been doing it from a very young age: about 11.

You ought to love what you're doing because, especially in a movie, over time you really will start to hate it.

All I can say is, hey, if you have fun doing what you do, if you have fun playing soccer, the creativity is just going to come as time goes on.

Writing is hard work; it's also the best job I've ever had.

The odd thing is, I don't consider what I do work, because it's what I love. But it is also an enormous amount of pressure, and you have to work an enormous amount of hours.

I was a workhorse; there was never a practice that I didn't enjoy.

The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves.

You have to love the doing of what you're doing and not wait for the phone to ring.

I really practiced hard and got to a certain level of technical proficiency. I overcame some of my limitations. I was a hard-working, dedicated bassoonist, but I have to say I'm not a natural musician.

I really believe in myself. I'm the hardest worker I know, and one of the best songwriters. There's a craft to it, and it takes a long time to hone it, and I work really hard at it.

I love what I do, so I don't mind working.