Latest Itzhak Perlman Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Every person with a disability has a slightly different kind of disability. Not everybody has the same problems. Usually the wheelchairs are the wheelchairs. It's the same height and so on. It's a problem.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Different, Height, Disability

• Life is not as easy as it could be for a person with a disability.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Disability, Life Is, Easy

• I find personally that when I go to a place where I can't get in, I feel hostility from whatever it is, a hotel, a shop, a market, a street corner where there are no curb cuts, because somebody forgot to put them in, and where I have to go two blocks to the corner to do it. A lot of the excuses are, "Well, this is an old building." That's my favorite one. "This is an old building." It's as though 50 years ago, people with disabilities did not exist. As if the disabled are a new problem. It has always been a problem.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Block, Cutting, Years

  Source: abilitymagazine.com

• I don't know if it's ever happened to you, but it's one of my funniest and saddest experiences, when you go into a hotel, and they have an accessible walk-in shower. So you go in and open the curtain, and there is a bench off to the side of the shower. However, the shower is rectangular. On one side there's a bench, but the faucets are across from you. So if you sit on the bench, you cannot reach the faucets.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Sides, Benches, Showers

  Source: abilitymagazine.com

• Just imagine yourself in a wheelchair. Go through the building. If there's a place you can't go in, it's not accessible.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Imagine, Building, Wheelchairs

  Source: abilitymagazine.com

• A lot of society tries to put people with disabilities into one cube, and when you think about it, many, many people have different types of disabilities, and you cannot put a code that applies towards everyone - generally, they can be guidelines, but in the long run, interior designers and architects need more education on the subject. That's what's missing.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Running, Thinking, Long

  Source: abilitymagazine.com

• When you talk about a million bucks, if you think about it very carefully, it's not that much money, if you start to divide it. You have to figure out a philosophy as to whom you want to give it to.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Philosophy, Thinking, Giving

  Source: abilitymagazine.com

• Believe me, I've had interviews where the person says, "So when did you start and why? What about your parents?" I say to them, "Please, have you heard of the word Google?"

  Itzhak Perlman

  Believe, Parent, Google

  Source: abilitymagazine.com

• You decide to be a musician, you have to put in the time.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Musician

  "Itzhak Perlman: I'm Not On The Stage To Walk, I'm On It To Play". "Morning Edition" with Steve Inskeep, www.npr.org. November 27, 2015.

• A lot of people like to think that polio was a inspiration in what I do. I think that music has to do with what kind of passion do you have.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Inspiration, Passion, Thinking

  "Itzhak Perlman: I'm Not On The Stage To Walk, I'm On It To Play". "Morning Edition", www.npr.org. November 27, 2015.

• I can't walk very well, but I'm not onstage to do walking. I'm on the stage to play.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Play, Stage, Walks

  "Itzhak Perlman: I'm Not On The Stage To Walk, I'm On It To Play". "Morning Edition" with Renee Montagne, www.npr.org. November 27, 2015.

• I don't walk on stage unless I'm playing with a orchestra. But when I play a recital, I'm sort of on a scooter, and I just scoot very quickly on stage, and they're saying, wow, look at this. He's so fast.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Play, Looks, Orchestra

  "Itzhak Perlman: I'm Not On The Stage To Walk, I'm On It To Play". "Morning Edition" with Renee Montagne, www.npr.org. November 27, 2015.

• If you play something well, I don't care what it is. I mean, I don't play an electric [violin] - I tried. It's actually interesting.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Mean, Play, Interesting

  "Violinist Itzhak Perlman Gets Quizzed On Ron Perlman". "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!", www.npr.org. March 29, 2014.

• I'm just a one-instrument player. I have been known to play a blender, but I basically play - just play the violin.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Player, Violin, Blenders

  Source: www.npr.org

• I do three things. I do teaching, I do conducting and I do playing. And each one of those sort of helps the other.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Teaching, Three, Helping

  Source: www.pbs.org

• Nothing is better for my playing than teaching because when you teach, you have to think and you have to listen what other people do. And then all of a sudden, you play yourself and then you say, my goodness, I don't need a teacher. I'm my own teacher. Then I can react to what I'm doing immediately. It really improves.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Teacher, Teaching, Thinking

  Source: www.pbs.org

• Another thing that you really do when you play, that you're supposed to do, is colors. You know, you cannot play with one color. If you play with one color, again, it's like watching a beautiful painting, a drawing, but it's all in blue or it's all in red. May be very nice, but not very interesting.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Beautiful, Nice, Blue

  Source: www.pbs.org

• Same thing with harmonies. If you hear something that harmonically is interesting, express it. So that's what I'm saying about talking the music rather than just playing through.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Talking, Interesting, Harmony

  Source: www.pbs.org

• The thing is that what you try to do when you play is you try to play not below a certain level. In other words, it can be a special day where it would be phenomenal, but if it's not below a certain level, that's the goal. You know, that's what you want to do. That's why you practice and so on.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Practice, Play, Goal

  Source: www.pbs.org

• Don't play the way it goes. Play the way it is. And the way it is every time you play it, it's slightly different. Look for something. So that's the challenge not to be bored.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Play, Bored, Challenges

  Source: www.pbs.org

• One of the great challenges is to know when things are not right.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Challenges, Knows

  Source: www.pbs.org

• I always consider myself lucky that I can actually cry listening to some music.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Listening, Lucky, Cry

  Source: www.pbs.org

• I always say separate your abilities from your disabilities. You know, if I could play the violin, I don't have to play it standing up. I can play it sitting down and so on.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Play, Sitting Down, Down And

  Source: www.pbs.org

• There is nothing like a fine Italian sound.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Italian, Sound, Fine

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

• I can actually see the sound in my head. I can actually see it... But each sound is different so this one has that sparkle, there is a sparkle to the sound.

  Itzhak Perlman

  Sound, Different, Sparkle

  Source: www.cbsnews.com