"I just went to Harvard a little while, because I graduated from Armstrong High School in Washington and then I went up there but I didn't stay that long because I went into show business."

Work

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Work as articulated by Billy Eckstine. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Work provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Billy Eckstine

William Clarence Eckstine was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award "for performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording". His recording of "I Apologize" was given the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. The New York Times described him as an "influential band leader" whose "suave bass-baritone" and "full-throated, sugary approach to popular songs inspired singers such as Earl Coleman, Johnny Hartman, Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock, and Lou Rawls."

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More by Billy Eckstine

"I'm a firm believer and I think my religion is inside."

— Billy Eckstine
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"I was still in school at the time and Cab was very popular and everybody was doing Cab Calloway so I did."

— Billy Eckstine
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"Oh, yeah. I know Dizzy. For years he's been my buddy way, way, way back. Dizzy is one of the most astute guys and one of the most learned guys in the world and knows exactly what he's doing musically."

— Billy Eckstine
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"I knew exactly what I was, and there was no hang-up with me. None whatsoever. The fact that the pigment of my skin maybe being lighter brown than other people of my race, maybe some of them, but you know our race has all colors."

— Billy Eckstine
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More about Work

"My favorite thing to hear from people is, 'I left the theater and couldn't stop thinking about it.' You want your work to have an impact after they leave the theater. It's the equivalent of leaving a musical humming a show tune."

— Marin Ireland
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"I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business."

— Henry David Thoreau
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"Unless you're a big movie star, regular television work is going to bring you more exposure than anything. Everybody has a television; not everybody goes to the movies."

— G. W. Bailey
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"You don't leave behind box office scores or how many dollars changed hands."

— Alex Van Halen
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