161 Quotes by Tony Bennett

I’ve been so fortunate because I never really had ups and downs as far as my career. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’ve been sold out all over the world.

I think in all of the arts there are just certain people that have a gift. I think it’s a certain spirituality, it’s a God-given gift that just certain individuals have.

It sounds so simple, but if you just be yourself, you're different than anyone else.

When you get older, you don't have to eat a lot. I get my rest and sleep very well at night. It keeps me very balanced.

To me, life is a gift, and it's a blessing to just be alive. And each person should learn what a gift it is to be alive no matter how tough things get.

For many years, I've always been attached to what they call the Great American Songbook, and Kern was a great leader of that because he had the classical training of Europe. He impressed all the greatest composers, like Cole Porter and Gershwin. They couldn't believe he was writing the songs he was writing.

I had the greatest time of my life in England for a couple of years, and Robert Farnon made some of the best music I've ever been around.

Presley is country music, white music. Jazz is black music - it was invented by the blacks in New Orleans. And I'm really a jazz singer. I was impressed with Elvis - he was the handsomest guy I ever met in my life, and a very nice person, too. But the music doesn't impress me.

It's a great thing that the United States has given the rest of the world - no other country has given such great popular music to the Far East and Europe. When I play those great countries, a lot of times, the audience starts singing the songs with me. They know them. They love them.