62 Quotes by Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana, a legendary Mexican-American musician and guitarist, has had an immeasurable influence on the world of rock and Latin music. Blending rock, blues, jazz, and Latin rhythms, Santana's unique sound captivated audiences worldwide, and his signature guitar playing became instantly recognizable. He rose to fame with his band, Santana, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, delivering electrifying performances at iconic music festivals such as Woodstock.
Beyond his technical virtuosity, Santana's music carried a powerful message of peace, unity, and spiritual awakening. His album "Supernatural," released in 1999, became a massive commercial success and earned him multiple Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. Santana's collaborations with a diverse array of artists further showcased his openness to musical exploration and fusion. Throughout his career, he remained committed to philanthropic efforts and used his platform to advocate for social justice and environmental causes. Carlos Santana's musical legacy and his dedication to using his art for positive change have solidified him as a true musical icon and an inspiring humanitarian.
Carlos Santana Quotes
The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace.
The guitar is your first wings. It's assigned and designed to unfold your vision and imagination.
There's never one sunrise the same or one sunset the same.
Your wrinkles either show that you're nasty, cranky, and senile, or that you're always smiling.
One day there will be no borders, no boundaries, no flags and no countries and the only passport will be the heart
Happiness is not a destination or an experience. It's a decision.
Most people are prisoners, thinking only about the future or living in the past. They are not in the present, and the present is where everything begins.
Everything is a battlefield. If you fight with anger, you are part of the problem. If you fight with joy, you're part of the solution.
Music rearranges your molecular structure.
My job in this life is to give people spiritual ecstasy through music. In my concerts people cry, laugh, dance. If they climaxed spiritually, I did my job. I did it decently and honestly.
Live up to your convictions. You walk in grace or you walk in fear. You can't have it both ways.
Peace has never come from dropping bombs. Real peace comes from enlightenment and educating people to behave more in a divine manner.
If you stay in your heart you will always be inspired and if you are inspired you will always be enthusiastic. There is nothing more contagious on this planet as enthusiasm.
There is divinity in your DNA. Live your light.
When a baby comes you can smell two things: the smell of flesh, which smells like chicken soup, and the smell of lilies, the flower of another garden, the spiritual garden.
If our history can challenge the next wave of musicians to keep moving and changing, to keep spiritually hungry and horny, that's what it's all about.
First of all, the music that people call Latin or Spanish is really African. So Black people need to get the credit for that.
Ever since I was a child I've always been very attracted to melodies. Whether I hear Jeff Beck, a choir, an ocean or the wind, there's always a melody in there.
I think of music as a menu. I can't eat the same thing every day.
There is no greater reward than working from your heart and making a difference in the world.
Most people don't have that willingness to break bad habits. They have a lot of excuses and they talk like victims.
I don’t eat meat because meat brings out negative qualities such as fear, anger, anxiety, aggressiveness, etc. Vegetables peacefully offer themselves to the earth when ripe, thus allowing a sublime and peaceful thought-conscio usness
Some songs are just like tattoos for your brain... you hear them and they're affixed to you.
The more choices we give patients affected by depression, the better we will serve them.
The Devil is like a strainer that separates the mud from the gold.
I invite you, wholeheartedly, to read books that remind you of your highest self and emancipate you from mental slavery or false beliefs and illusions. The more you invest in attracting books that resonate with the frequency of your true self, the more light you will bring to the world.
There's a melody in everything. And once you find the melody, then you connect immediately with the heart. Because sometimes English or Spanish, Swahili or any language gets in the way. But nothing penetrates the heart faster than the melody.
You are not realistic unless you believe in miracles.
You cannot behave appropriately, unless you perceive correctly. Once you perceive you are a beam of Light, that comes from the mind of God, you will carry yourself differently.
There is no person that love cannot heal; there is no soul that love cannot save.
Your mind is a magnet. You don't attract what you need or what you want; you attract who you are. And I love who I am!
When you are in your heart of hearts, you can see beyond appearances.
Surrender your whole being to a note, and gravity disappears...wi th one chord
I'm laughing because I know the secret of life. And the secret of life is that I have validated my existence. I know that I am worth more than my house, my bank account, or any physical thing.
Bring the brothers home, and sisters home now. Legalize marijuana and take all that money and invest it in teachers and in education. You will see a transformation in America.
You've got to change your evil ways, baby, before I start loving you.
People are flowers. Music is water. Musicians are the hose.
If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment.
The music of Hendrix wakes people up to their possibilities. It's more than just dreaming about being a guitar hero.
I am here to give voice to the invisible.
"When you play from the heart,
all of a sudden there's no gravity.
You don't feel the weight of the world,
of bills, of anything.
That's why people love it.
Your so-called insurmountable problems disappear,
and instead of problems you get possibilities."
I can show you that I have played with just about every jazz musician, every African musician, every blues musician. It's not like I'm cashing in on a false concept. This is what I do.
The worst thing you can become in life is cynical. Cynical is like concrete. and nothing grows in concrete.
If you want to be successful, just meditate, man. God will tell you what people need.
All music is important if it comes from the heart.
The best part of touring, still, is touching people's hearts and igniting my band and igniting the people into what you call a spiritual revelation is sound and emotion.
Whether you are doing it in the bar, the church, the strip joint, or the Himalayas, the first duty of music is to complement and enhance life.
I have come to the conclusion - and I don't know why it took me so long, but nevertheless, I'm here now - that a lot of people tell me they don't get enough guitar on my albums. So I decided to do an album where the guitar would be the singer, playing the melody.
Everybody sooner or later has to drop the luggage and the baggage of illusions.
There is nothing more contagious on this planet than enthusiasm.
I would invite all Latin people to do nothing for about two weeks so you can see who really, really is running the economy I am here to give voice to the invisible.
There is more value in placing a flower in a rifle barrel than making war. As Jimi Hendrix used to say, musical notes have more importance than bullets.
You're always cursing, you're always praying and you're always making love. It ain't do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do.
If You're going to sweep the floor, sweep it better than anybody in town. And if You're going to play the guitar, really, really, really get in it, and don't be jivin'.
He just seems as cool as ever. I can smell him. Even on the other side, there is smell. Like, when babies are born, there's two smells-one is chicken soup, which is the flesh, and the other is lilacs, which is coming from the spiritual garden. The spirit has a lilac smell.
No one's better than me. I'm not better than anyone. Whether it's Eric Clapton or BB King we look straight at each other. And that keeps it real.
Blues was my first love. It was the first thing where I said, 'Oh man, this is the stuff.' It just sounded so raw and honest, gut-bucket honest. From then I started rebelling.
I'm ready to do something with Lady Gaga or Andrea Bocelli. I'm really grateful that nothing is out of the realm of possibility.
Angels cry because they want to experience what you and I feel: the moment. They live in eternity. They dont know what it is like to read a newspaper and get ink on your fingers. They dont know what it is like to take your shoes off and wiggle your toes under the dinner table.
The concept is to weave in some emotion.
A lot of people said to me, 'Enough with the guest vocalists for a while. We want to hear the Mexican play the guitar!'
Some musicians, man, you hear the note almost before they hit it. Jimi, Coltrane and Charlie Parker were like that.
― Carlos Santana Quotes
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
