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Who really said it

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do

Attributed to Ella Fitzgerald 1917–1996 · American jazz singer, the ‘First Lady of Song’
Attributed Rights unconfirmed

Widely credited to Ella Fitzgerald — the line even appears on her estate’s official website — and it fits her arc from a hard childhood to global stardom. But no interview, article, broadcast, or dated source has ever been located that records her saying this exact sentence, and neither Quote Investigator nor English Wikiquote documents it. Genuine-sounding, but unsourced.

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Unconfirmed quote & credit

“Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do” Attributed to Ella Fitzgerald (unverified). No documented primary source has been found for this exact wording. — Quotle.info

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

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In context

Evoking the world of Ella Fitzgerald — American jazz singer, the "First Lady of Song". Theme: "Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source trail

Attributed to
Ella Fitzgerald
Popular full form
“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”
Documented source
None located — no dated interview, article, or recording
Investigated by QI / Wikiquote
No dedicated investigation on either

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.

The queried line is the first sentence; it almost always travels with the second, and the estate presents the pair together.

Ella Fitzgerald estate — official quotes page

What the record shows

  • The line appears on Ella Fitzgerald’s official estate website in its full two-sentence form — but with no interview, date, or publication cited.
  • Quotation aggregators such as LibQuotes file it among Ella’s ‘sourced’ quotes, yet the ‘Source’ field is left empty — the label promises documentation the page does not deliver.
  • A Quote Investigator site search returns no dedicated study of this quote, and English Wikiquote has no article recording it — so no specialist has traced it to a first appearance.

Because no source work or first-publication date can be established for this exact wording, its copyright status cannot be responsibly asserted. If it is a genuine statement by Ella Fitzgerald (who died in 1996), it would post-date 1931 and be in-copyright to her estate; if it is a later paraphrase, its origin is simply unknown. Either way, we cannot claim it is public domain.

Fact-check

A note on false precision

No rival author claims this line, so it is not misattributed to the wrong person. The problem is subtler: it is dressed up as documented when it is not.

Quotation aggregators (LibQuotes, Goodreads, BrainyQuote) unsourced

Sites like LibQuotes list it under ‘sourced quotes,’ and others repeat it as a settled Ella saying, yet none supplies an interview, date, book, or recording. The air of documentation is manufactured by repetition.

Ella Fitzgerald estate / official channels

The line’s presence on ellafitzgerald.com lends it authority, but the estate lists it with no source either — an endorsement, not evidence of when or where she said it.

The honest status is attributed: consistent with Ella Fitzgerald and uncontested, but not tied to any documented primary source — see the empty citation on LibQuotes.

Context

Why it resonates

The sentiment — keep at what you love and let love and inspiration guide you — maps neatly onto Ella Fitzgerald’s own story: a poor, orphaned teenager who was discovered at an Apollo Theater amateur night and became the most decorated jazz vocalist of her era. A perseverance quote from her feels self-evidently true, which is precisely why it circulates without anyone stopping to ask for a citation.

That biographical fit is a feature of the attribution, not proof of it. Feel-good lines gravitate toward beloved, quotable figures; the more a quote ‘sounds like’ someone, the less scrutiny it draws. Until a dated interview or article surfaces, the careful reading is: this may well be Ella’s, but no one has shown where or when she said it.

It sounds exactly like Ella — which is why nobody checks.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Resilience Purpose

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Ella Fitzgerald — official quotes pageellafitzgerald.com

The estate’s own site carrying the full two-sentence quote, without any source citation.
Quote Investigatorquoteinvestigator.com

Specialist quote-tracing site; a search shows no dedicated investigation of this line.
Ella Fitzgerald — LibQuoteslibquotes.com

Lists the quote under ‘sourced’ quotes but leaves the source field empty.
Ella Fitzgerald quotes — Goodreadsgoodreads.com

High-traffic aggregation page attributing the quote to Ella with no citation.
Ella Fitzgerald biographygrammy.com

Recording Academy profile documenting her career and 13 Grammy wins.

The First Lady of Song

About Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

1917–1996 · American jazz singer, the "First Lady of Song"

Ella Fitzgerald rose from a hard, unstable childhood in Yonkers and Harlem — time spent in reform school and briefly homeless — to become one of the most celebrated vocalists in American history, winning 13 Grammy Awards across a career from the 1930s to the 1990s. Renowned for her flawless intonation, scat improvisation, and the landmark Song Book series, she embodied exactly the persistence this quote preaches. That biographical fit is part of why the line attaches to her so easily — and why it deserves scrutiny rather than assumption.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

No primary source documented. The line (usually in the fuller two-sentence form) is carried by undated quotation aggregators and also appears, without citation, on the Ella Fitzgerald estate’s official site, ellafitzgerald.com.

MLA (9th ed.)

Fitzgerald, Ella. Attributed quotation; no primary source documented.

APA (7th ed.)

Fitzgerald, E. (n.d.). Attributed quotation [No primary source documented].

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/just-dont-give-up-trying-to-do-what-you-really-want-to-do

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