There have been many beautiful things said about music over our history. How it inspires us, fills us with emotions, and enables us to tell stories. Words by musicians, poets, philosophers, celebrities, even politicians. I think the common thread in most of the quotes that I’m going to share with you is, music brings us together. Music is a way of communicating, often without words. Can you think of anything else that can do that? It really is magical!
“If music be the food of love, play on.” – William Shakespeare, playwright, poet, actor
“Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.” – George Eliot (Nary Ann Evans), playwright, poet, journalist
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato, philosopher
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” – Aldous Huxley, writer, philosopher
“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence in between.” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer
“Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” – Leonard Bernstein, composer, conductor, pianist, educator, humanitarian
“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” – Lao Tzu, philosopher, writer
“If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” – Louis Armstrong “Satchmo”, musician, composer
“Do it again on the next verse and people think you meant it.” – Chet Atkins “Mr. Guitar”, musician, songwriter
“Music is powerful. As people listen to it, they can be affected. They respond.” – Ray Charles, musician, songwriter
“Music is the strongest form of magic.” – Marilyn Manson (Brian Hugh Warner), musician, songwriter, producer
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher, writer
“Where words leave off, music begins.” – Heinrich Heine, poet, writer
“I haven’t understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it.” – Igor Stravinsky, composer, conductor
“My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require.” – Edward Elgar, composer
“Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” – Charlie Parker “Bird”, jazz musician, composer
“Music drives you. It wakes you up, it gets you pumping. And, at the end of the day, the correct tune will chill you down.” – Dimebag Darrell (Pantera), guitarist
“I adore art… when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.” – Giuseppe Verdi, composer
“Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.” – Franz Liszt, composer, pianist
“The musician is perhaps the most modest of animals, but he is also the proudest.” – Erik Satie, composer, pianist
“To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist.” – Robert Schumann, composer, pianist
“A creative artist works on his next composition because he was not satisfied with his previous one.” – Dmitri Shostakovich, composer, pianist
“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” – John Cage, composer, pianist
“As long as we live, there is never enough singing.” – Martin Luther, theologian, religious reformist
“Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.” – Claude Debussy, composer
“Wake up, live your life and sing the melody of your soul.” – Amit Ray, writer, spiritual master
“The easiest way to avoid wrong notes is to never open your mouth and sing. What a mistake that would be.” – Pete Seeger, musician, songwriter
“Music is the tool to express life – and all that makes a difference.” – Herbie Hancock, jazz musician, composer
“Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory.” Oscar Wilde, poet, playwright
“If I cannot fly, let me sing.” Stephen Sondheim, composer, lyricist
Where words fail, music speaks. Hans Christian Andersen, writer
“Music comes from a place we don’t know.” Chris Martin (Coldplay), songwriter
“Some people have lives; some people have music.” John Green, writer
“You are the music while the music lasts.” T.S. Eliot, poet, playwright