Monk Quotes

He was seriously thinking of becoming a monk. He thought he had to be celibate to maintain the purity of his instrument, but my instrument needed tuning, and we had to split.

So, at the age of nine, I became a monk, and from then on I was there practicing that kind of nonviolence.

Being on Broadway is the modern equivalent of being a monk. I sleep a lot, eat a lot, and rest a lot.

The more original something is, the more of a threat it seems until the people catch up with it. That happened with Thelonious Monk. It happened with anybody who is really original.

A habit does not a monk make.

I've always been really athletic, which really helped, because when I first started doing the training for Bulletproof Monk, it required so much strength that if I didn't have a base I don't really know what I would have done.

The first jazz pianist I heard was Thelonious Monk. My father was listening to an album of his called 'Monk's Dream' almost every day from the time I was born.

I left Chicago many years ago to move to California. You can't help but live a healthy lifestyle here if you want to fit in. I find myself eating chicken and salad and chicken and salad and salad and chicken, like a monk.

I was spoiled by Monk's music because it was so good, so complete.

My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.

There's a difference between solitude and loneliness. I can understand the concept of being a monk for a while.

When I heard Monk in person in 1955, he was playing with a quartet in a small club. The place was full of musicians, but there was no public at all.

His name, even, is part of the marketing scheme, I mean, Thelonious Sphere Monk - how can you think of a better name to fit his style of playing?

Every few generations there are people who come along that change the way we look at the world, for musical enthusiasts Monk is one of these individuals.

I'm like a monk with a taste for hookers.

But I really want to be an artist, so therefore I have to live a little bit like a monk.

I think any spiritual experience that's worthwhile is not about ego and it will humble you in some way. And also, a Zen monk once said to me, 'If you're not laughing, then you're not getting it.'

Thelonious Sphere Monk: there's not a more perfect name to fit his compositions than that name.

I describe myself as a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less.

When I found the music of Monk I finally found music that fit that horn. Every one of his tunes fit it perfectly.

I went through the whole number, you know. The swing era, the boogie woogie era, the bebop era. Thelonious Monk is still one of my favorites. So a lot of these people had their effect on me.

My imagination is a monastery and I am its monk.

Its language is as bare as a monk's cell, and as uninviting.

If you can get a twelve year-old kid to go listen to Thelonius Monk, what more do you want? Do you want a big pile of cash, too? That's a home run for me.