Famous Musician Quotes

• Without music, life is a journey through a desert.

  Pat Conroy

  Music, Journey, Desert

  Pat Conroy (1995). “Beach Music”, Nan A. Talese

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  Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.

  Charlie Parker

  Music, Art, Men

  Quoted in Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya (1955)

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• Where words fail, music speaks.

  Hans Christian Andersen

  Inspirational, Music, Art

  Hans Christian Andersen (1876). “Stories for the Young”

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• You are the music while the music lasts.

  T. S. Eliot

  Music, Dope, Jazz And Life

  Four Quartets "The Dry Salvages" pt. 5 (1941)

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• There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.

  Thomas Beecham

  Funny, Music, Two

  In Harold Atkins and Archie Newman Beecham Stories (1978) p. 27

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  When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

  Jimi Hendrix

  Love, Inspirational, Life

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  I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.

  Billy Joel

  Inspirational, Motivational, Music

  FaceBook post by Billy Joel from Aug 19, 2013

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• The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.

  B. B. King

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  "The Charlotte Observer", p. 2D, October 5, 1997.

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• One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.

  Bob Marley

  Funny, Music, Wisdom

  Song: Trenchtown Rock

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• After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

  Aldous Huxley

  Motivational, Music, Wisdom

  Music at Night (1931) p. 17

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• If you don't live it, it won't come out your horn.

  Charlie Parker

  Music, Art, Reality

  Quoted in Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya (1955)

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• Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

  Pablo Picasso

  Life, Motivational, Music

  "LIFE", Vol. 57, nr. 11, (p. 9), September 11, 1964.

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• I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.

  Elvis Presley

  Music, Witty, Humorous

  Quoted in Robert Byrne, The Other 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (1984)

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  You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

  Beverly Sills

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  "Incredible Quotations: 230 Thought-Provoking Quotes with Prompts to Spark Students' Writing, Thinking, and Discussion". Book by Jacqueline Sweeney, 1997.

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• If music be the food of love, play on.

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Inspirational, Romantic

  'Twelfth Night' (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 1

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• A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.

  Leopold Stokowski

  Inspirational, Music, Art

  Leopold Stokowski's address to an audience at Carnegie Hall, as quoted in The New York Times, May 11, 1967.

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• I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity.

  Billy Joel

  Music, Healing, Thinking

  Interview with Anthony DeCurtis, www.rollingstone.com. November 06, 1986.

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• No matter what culture you're from, everyone loves music.

  Billy Joel

  Music, Healing, Matter

  Interview with Anthony DeCurtis, www.rollingstone.com. November 06, 1986.

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• Music expresses that which cannot be put into words.

  Victor Hugo

  Music, Sound And Music, Musical Life

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• Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

  Victor Hugo

  Music, Wisdom, Art

  Victor Hugo (2016). “William Shakespeare”, p.62, Library of Alexandria

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• Country music is three chords and the truth.

  Harlan Howard

  Music, Country, Inspiration

  "Country Scribe Harlan Howard Dies" by Andrew Dansby, www.rollingstone.com. March 5, 2002.

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• Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

  Ludwig van Beethoven

  Music, Wisdom, Philosophy

  Ludwig van Beethoven, Friedrich Kerst, Henry Edward Krehbiel (1964). “Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in His Own Words”, p.13, Courier Corporation

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• It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.

  Johann Sebastian Bach

  Music, Keys, Play

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  Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Music, Lonely

  Twitter post from Oct 02, 2015

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• Music is indeed the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

  Ludwig van Beethoven

  Music, Spiritual, Wisdom

  Attributed to Ludwig van Beethoven by Bettina von Arnim in a letter to Goethe (May 28, 1810), as quoted in Bettina von Arnim "Goethe's Correspondence with a Child", 1835.

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