Ahmet Quotes & Sayings

As I grew up, I began to discover a little bit about the situation of black people in America and experienced an immediate empathy with the victims of such senseless discrimination. Because although the Turks were never slaves, they were regarded as enemies within Europe because of their Muslim beliefs. — Ahmet Ertegun

I definitely have managed to overcome dyslexia now to become a fully functional human being but things were a lot more difficult when I was younger. — Ahmet Zappa

There's been so much bad blood between the Kurds and the Turks. — Ahmet Ertegun

My father would often work all night and sleep during the day, so for us, dinner might be pancakes, and breakfast might be beef stroganoff. — Ahmet Zappa

I had this whole ritual with my mother making the bed with me inside it so I would be invisible. — Ahmet Zappa

The Muslim East has been in a defensive posture for centuries. Take Turkey. For a period of close to two hundred years, we've been living through phases of vital self-defense and security. In such a society, a fortress mentality naturally arises. If today we've lost the concept of freedom, the reason is that we're living in a state of siege." Suad — Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

There's no place in the world you can go and not hear rock-and-roll, from Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder to Phil Collins. — Ahmet Ertegun

The Chetniks! Everybody helped them, the whole world. By not helping Bosnia — Ahmet M. Rahmanovic

A singer's biographical film should have their music and their voice. — Ahmet Ertegun

The following story if fiction.
What actually happened was worse. — Ahmet M. Rahmanovic

I've always wanted to have a book published - it was a dream of mine, but the thought of actually writing a book made me feel really sick. — Ahmet Zappa

The Muslim world is deeply hurt by the campaign of violence initiated against our Palestinian brothers. — Ahmet Necdet Sezner

Whenever a songwriter writes a big hit, then the next 20 songs they write - no matter how bad they are - get recorded. — Ahmet Ertegun

Musa pushed Hamza along. "Should we hurry too?"
"No need to. You never know if you're running from a bomb or towards one. — Ahmet M. Rahmanovic

We said that pledges made in the peace process need to be fulfilled as soon as possible. — Ahmet Davutoglu

I don't use the computer. But my secretary does. I want to take some computer courses because I'm interested in some of the access to some of the illegal things on the Internet. I'm just kidding. — Ahmet Ertegun

America is remarkable, don't you think so? When I came to Washington, I was twelve years old. I spoke English with an English accent. It was assumed that it would go on in that way. — Ahmet Ertegun

If anybody asks me where I'm from, my first inclination is to say, 'Washington,' because that's where I grew up meaningfully. — Ahmet Ertegun

I came close to signing Elvis Presley. I offered $25,000 for his contract and they asked for $45,000 and I just didn't have the other $20,000. — Ahmet Ertegun

I think it's better to burn out than to fade away ... it's better to live out your days being very, very active - even if it destroys you - than to quietly ... disappear. — Ahmet Ertegun

'Freedom of belief and worship is the most important guarantee of social peace. — Ahmet Necdet Sezner

There is a certain sort of excess that is interesting, don't you think? And America is, of course, the most excessive place. — Ahmet Ertegun

I'd be happy if people said that I did a little bit to raise the dignity and recognition of the greatness of African-American music. — Ahmet Ertegun

It is a great life, this life of music, — Ahmet Ertegun

Now it is time to make historic reassessments in order to transform our region into one of stability, freedom, prosperity, cultural revival and co-existence. In this new regional order there should be less violence and fewer barriers between countries, societies and sects. — Ahmet Davutoglu

Either appear as you are
Or be as you appear
Be like the sun in compassion and mercy
Be like the light in covering others' shame
Be like a stream in generosity and beneficence
Be like earth in modesty and humility
Be like the sea in tolerance
Be like death in irritability and anger
Either appear as you are
Or be as you appear
The Dervish Gate — Ahmet Umit

As an academic, this was not the lifestyle I had planned for myself. Now I see myself everywhere. — Ahmet Davutoglu

Theres two kinds of music: black soul music, and the white imitation thereof. — Ahmet Ertegun

An ordinary Turk, an ordinary Arab, an ordinary Tunisian can change history. We believe that democracy is good, and that our people deserve it. — Ahmet Davutoglu

I fear that those who see freedom solely as a political concept will never fully grasp its meaning. The political pursuit of freedom can lead to its eradication on a grand scale - or rather it opens the door to countless curtailments. — Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

You know what I'd really like to do? I'd like to record some white Chicago jazz. — Ahmet Ertegun

There are still many great surviving talents: Stevie Winwood. Another great talent is Stevie Wonder. Another one is Eric Clapton. Another one is Phil Collins. Eminem, Kanye West I like all those people. — Ahmet Ertegun

The uniqueness of the United States in human history is the United States is the first global power in human history which emerged far away from Africa or Asia, which is the main land of human history. — Ahmet Davutoglu

But, Doctor, I'm not ill. Good God! I've told you everything".
Again his fixed his eyes on mine and stopped me, his voice full of resolve.
"You are ill. It is the fate we all share since the birth of psychoanalysis". — Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

The first time I heard Clyde McPhatter singing with the Dominoes at the Apollo I just fell off my chair — Ahmet Ertegun

A sense of politics is for politicians. I am satisfied with the sense of truth — Ahmet M. Rahmanovic

Turkey has worked alongside its allies from the beginning. — Ahmet Davutoglu

Resorting to violence and the use of force at holy sites is unacceptable, whatever the reason might be. — Ahmet Necdet Sezner

I used to drink a bottle of vodka a day, every day, for about 40 years and it never occurred to me it'd kill me. If I'd have continued it might have killed me. My doctor said I should stick to wine. — Ahmet Ertegun

For as Dostoyevsky warned, "No nation on earth, no society with a certain measure of stability, has been developed to order, on the lines of a program imported from abroad. — Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

Today the search for a new global order is under way. — Ahmet Davutoglu

The main thing is that Ataturk saw the desperate condition of the countries that had not had an industrial revolution. Ataturk saw where history was going. He really did in Turkey what we are all hoping somebody will do in [Islamic] countries where fundamentalists thrive, that they get somebody today that has the vision that Ataturk had in 1915. — Ahmet Ertegun

When I first heard Ray Charles, he was a flop artist on a small label in California. He hadn't sold any records. And I bought his contract for $2,500. — Ahmet Ertegun

I became a jazz fan quite early and never went off the path thereafter. — Ahmet Ertegun

I picked books by their covers - the worse the cover, the more I wanted to read it. — Ahmet Zappa

I've lived very well all my life, even when I had no money, and there's very little I can't afford. — Ahmet Ertegun

My father believed very strongly in Ataturk. Ataturk was a very powerful man and a man of great vision. — Ahmet Ertegun

It is very important that the world know that there have been 500 years of peaceful coexistence in Turkey between the Jews and Moslems. — Ahmet Ertegun

'Zero problems with neighbors' is a value. But another equally important value is to establish peace. — Ahmet Davutoglu

People like Clyde McPhatter who came out of the black churches - like Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin - were all church singers who became great pop singers because gospel singing is very close to the blues. — Ahmet Ertegun

Flashy people aren't everything, you know. Even when they have frizzled hair. — Ahmet Ertegun

The songwriters whom we think of being the greatest songwriters usually write one hit and six or seven flops. That includes the Irving Berlins and the Hoagy Carmichaels, the Harold Arlens, Cole Porter. — Ahmet Ertegun

I love Ray Charles. He can still teach everybody a lot about how to make great music. Not necessarily how to make hits, but how to make great music. Of course, part of it is his incredible talent. Who are the greatest jazz singers in the world? Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Ray Charles. — Ahmet Ertegun

Soul lyrics, soul music came at about the same time as the civil rights movement, and it's very possible that one influenced the other. — Ahmet Ertegun

Unless we abandon elements which resemble a police state, we can't meet the demands of being a modern society. — Ahmet Necdet Sezner

We're not sure if he's alive. Nobody has the guts to check it out. — Ahmet M. Rahmanovic

Rock n' roll really belongs to all America. It really doesn't belong to one city. — Ahmet Ertegun

I think what my father appreciated was the science experiment of life. He had these kids, and they had their own experiences. He wanted us to discover the world for ourselves. — Ahmet Zappa

Turkey wants a policy of engagement exactly like President Obama's new approach. Policy of engagement, less confrontation, less tense attitude, especially in the region. — Ahmet Davutoglu

When we had to do book reports, I would pick a book that no one read and just make it up and turn that in. I got praised for my imagination. — Ahmet Zappa

Jesse Stone did more to develop the basic rock-and-roll sound than anybody else. — Ahmet Ertegun

I miss my Dad. My Dad loved cheesy monster movies, so we'd have Godzilla movie marathons. Those are some of my favorite memories, laughing at how the monster outfits were so bad, like black garbage bags for heads. — Ahmet Zappa

My parents told us how they felt but never imposed their beliefs on us, although I appreciate I got a healthy sense of democracy from them. — Ahmet Zappa

If any harm is to come to Turkey's border security, if Turkey reaches the conclusion that this garden of peace is being threatened, it is prepared for any eventuality, we will take the necessary measures to reduce the risks related to cross-border security. — Ahmet Davutoglu

Everyone felt like they knew Ray Charles and in a way they did, because he was embodied by his music. — Ahmet Ertegun

Our future is our sense of common destiny. — Ahmet Davutoglu

I didn't read at all until I was 12. I just couldn't. It was too frustrating. — Ahmet Zappa

The all-time greatest Atlantic group - The Drifters — Ahmet Ertegun

My father was in Ataturk's closest group. They lived together during the War of Liberation in Turkey. — Ahmet Ertegun

I would ask my parents something, but then go to my siblings. We were encouraged to bounce ideas off everyone. — Ahmet Zappa

Turkey is a European country, an Asian country, a Middle Eastern country, Balkan country, Caucasian country, neighbor to Africa, Black Sea country, Caspian Sea, all these. — Ahmet Davutoglu

If you can serve everyone who visits you, you must be doing well in business. — Ahmet Davutoglu

Every family in Konya has at least one shoemaker in their midst, and I am one of those families. — Ahmet Davutoglu

At 12 I dropped out of school but I had lost interest in it at a much earlier age. For me, school was very very stressful. — Ahmet Zappa

Some things are difficult to adapt to. — Ahmet Davutoglu

In the heart of every writer there lies a murderer.
Writers spend their lives struggling to conceal this murderous desire from other mortals.
Like God, they ruthlessly destroy the people of their own creation, drag them from one cruelty to another, meting out punishment, and with the callous indifference of a serial killer. And no one knows when he has taken a life from the solitude of his room. But when a writer is enraged the walls of his refuge come crumbling down, revealing his true identity. — Ahmet Altan

I've been in the studio when you go through a track and you run down a track and you know even before the singer starts singing, you know the track is swinging ... you know you have a multimillion-seller hit - and what you're working on suddenly has magic. — Ahmet Ertegun

The Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame will provide a center where the lives and the artistry of the greatest jazz musicians will be celebrated, and where people will come to learn about jazz, something to which my brother devoted his life's work. — Ahmet Ertegun

You know about the Mother Goddess - the first female god, a fat woman with a lion on one side and a child between her legs. She was the first god of humankind.
Do you know why than ancient people of Anatolia chose her as their god? Because men were not aware of their roles as impregnators. They thought that it was the wind, the rain, the rivers, in short, nature, that impregnated women. And this was not at all a strange idea at the time. People viewed themselves as part of nature. They thought birth was magic, a miracle. — Ahmet Umit

I collect things that just look retarded. — Ahmet Zappa

I first heard Laura Branigan sing live in my brother Nesuhi's apartment, where we had gone because he had a very good piano. I immediately realized that she had a great pop voice, in the classical sense. Laura had an instinctive feel for music and melody, and her delivery was sensational. Everybody at Atlantic knew that we had a winner in this young lady, and she came through with great hits that will be remembered for many years to come. I consider Laura to be one of my best signings, and I am proud to have had such a great singer in my career in the record business. We miss her dearly. — Ahmet Ertegun

You see, I'm not ashamed to admit it. When you've passed eighty, you don't need to lie anymore, not to yourself nor to others, or find extenuating circumstances for what you have done. — Ahmet M. Rahmanovic

Love is the common denominator that unites all people whatever religion they are.-Rumi — Ahmet Umit

Cigarettes are bad for your health." advised the young Apollo.
"Snipers are bad for your health," Hamza returned, not recalling anybody who had died of cigarettes, but many who had died at the hands of snipers. — Ahmet M. Rahmanovic

The way this whole novel thing came together was, I sold them one bill of goods and then didn't communicate very well. I am like Captain Run-on Sentence. — Ahmet Zappa

The beauty of a landscape resides in its melancholy. — Ahmet Rasim

My first wife was a theater person. — Ahmet Ertegun

My father was a very religious person. And he prayed five times a day. And he did that throughout his relationship with Ataturk - at a time when it was very brave to do because Ataturk was cutting off the heads of the imams. And people thought that that was foolhardy of my father. — Ahmet Ertegun

When it all started, record companies - and there were many of them, and this was a good thing - were run by people who loved records, people like Ahmet Ertegun, who ran Atlantic Records, who were record collectors. They got in it because they loved music. — David Crosby

Fifty years from now, people will still be listening to Led Zeppelin. They won't even remember me. — Ahmet Ertegun

We shouldn't waste any more time in making sure that democracy is properly rooted in our political life and the supremacy of the law becomes an integral part of our state's structure. — Ahmet Necdet Sezner