Critics don't buy records. They get 'em free.
Nat King Cole

For years the Trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We practically starved to death.
Nat King Cole

Get me well so I can get on television and tell people to stop smoking.
Nat King Cole

I am an American citizen and feel I am entitled to the same rights as any other citizen.
Nat King Cole

I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.
Nat King Cole

I can't bear to see myself even in movies. The feeling is complex. I can't stand the sight of myself.
Nat King Cole

I make no claim to being a business genius. You can make so much money in this business that it loses its value.
Nat King Cole

I may be helping to bring harmony between people through my music.
Nat King Cole

I often wonder whether Negroes like myself who are pretty well known help out at all in breaking down barriers.
Nat King Cole

I was a guinea pig for some hoodlums who thought they could hurt me and frighten me and keep other Negro entertainers from the South.
Nat King Cole

I'm a musician at heart, I know I'm not really a singer. I couldn't compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it.
Nat King Cole

I'm an interpreter of stories. When I perform it's like sitting down at my piano and telling fairy stories.
Nat King Cole

I'm in the music business for one purpose - to make money.
Nat King Cole

I'm not playing for other musicians. We're trying to reach the guy who works all day and wants to spend a buck at night. We'll keep him happy.
Nat King Cole

I'm proud of our court. It knocks back a lot of the propaganda the Communists put out about the way America treats her Negroes.
Nat King Cole

If I could read it, I could play it.
Nat King Cole

It's not the people in the South who create racial problems - it's the people who are governing.
Nat King Cole

Music is emotional, and you may catch a musician in a very unemotional mood or you may not be in the same frame of mind as the musician. So a critic will often say a musician is slipping.
Nat King Cole

Only time, education and plenty of good schooling will make anti-segregation work.
Nat King Cole

People don't slip. Time catches up with them.
Nat King Cole