“When the music changes, so does the dance.”
Hausa Proverb
ChangeAdaptability
Music Quotes
92 FAMOUS QUOTES · MUSIC
Music Quotes
Read 200 of the best music quotes from Plato, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Bach, Rabindranath Tagore and Thyagaraja to modern musicians, on the power of music to heal, inspire and bring people together.
“If I miss one day of practice, I notice it. If I miss two days, the critics notice it. If I miss three days, the audience notices it.”
Attributed to Ignacy Jan Paderewski
PracticeDiscipline
“Don't only practise your art, but force your way into its secrets.”
Attributed to Ludwig van Beethoven
PracticeMastery
“I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.”
Johann Sebastian Bach
Hard WorkSuccess
“People err who think my art comes easily to me.”
Attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Hard WorkGenius
“If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn.”
Charlie Parker
AuthenticityJazz
“Play always as if in the presence of a master.”
Robert Schumann
ExcellencePractice
“The laws of morals are those of art.”
Robert Schumann
CharacterArt
“Lose no opportunity of practising music.”
Robert Schumann
PracticeOpportunity
“Teach music and singing at school in such a way that it is not a torture but a joy for the pupil.”
Zoltán Kodály
TeachingJoy
“Music is an indispensable part of universal human knowledge.”
Zoltán Kodály
EducationKnowledge
“The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love, passion.”
Attributed to Nadia Boulanger
PassionChoice
“Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens.”
Shinichi Suzuki
TeachingCharacter
“Practice makes perfect.”
English Proverb
PracticeShort Quotes
“Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire.”
Martha Graham
PracticePerseverance
“To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.”
Attributed to Ludwig van Beethoven
PassionPerformance
“Bach is like an astronomer who, with the help of ciphers, finds the most wonderful stars.”
Attributed to Frédéric Chopin
BachAdmiration
“Music is the expression of the movement of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes.”
Attributed to Claude Debussy
NatureMovement
“Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been put up to a critic.”
Jean Sibelius
CriticismConfidence
“Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.”
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
InspirationHard Work
“Life is a lot like jazz: it's best when you improvise.”
Attributed to George Gershwin
JazzLife
“If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.”
Attributed to Billie Holiday
OriginalitySinging
“There is nothing that surpasses the joy of creation.”
Attributed to Clara Schumann
CreativityJoy
“No one understands another's grief, no one understands another's joy.”
Franz Schubert
EmotionEmpathy
“I did only one masterpiece, Boléro. Unfortunately there's no music in it.”
Attributed to Maurice Ravel
FunnyHumility