Fate is being kind to me; fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.

Ellington frames delayed or moderated success as a form of protection rather than misfortune. By attributing his career’s pace to “fate,” he suggests that artistic maturity, craft, and personal grounding matter more than early celebrity. The remark also reflects a seasoned performer’s awareness that sudden fame can distort judgment, invite exploitation, or freeze an artist into a premature public image. Read this way, the quote is both humble and strategic: it recasts obstacles or slower recognition as time granted to develop a distinctive voice, build an ensemble, and learn the business—so that when wider acclaim arrives, it can be sustained rather than squandered.