24 inspirational quotes about classical music
From scientists and philosophers to poets and playwrights, some of the greatest minds in history were touched and inspired by classical music. Here's a selection of their inspiring words.
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1. Tony Bennett quote
Tony Bennett: ‘In the 1920s and ’30s, there was a renaissance in music that was the equivalent of the artistic Renaissance. Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer and others created the best songs ever written. These are classics... This is classical music’
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2. Dizzy Gillespie quote
Dizzy Gillespie quote
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3. Barack Obama arts quote
Barack Obama arts quote
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4. Albert Einstein
"I know that the most joy in my life has come to me from my violin." - Albert Einstein
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5. St. Augustine
St Augustine: "To sing is to pray twice."
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6. Plato
Plato: "Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul."
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7. John Dryden
John Dryden: "What passion cannot music raise and quell!"
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8. John Milton
John Milton: "Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie."
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9. Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou: "Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."
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10. Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen: "Where words fail, music speaks."
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11. Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy: "Music is the shorthand of emotion."
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12. John Keats
John Keats: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter. Therefore, ye soft pipes, play on."
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13. Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine: "When words leave off, music begins."
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14. George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw: "Hell is full of musical amateurs."
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15. Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley: "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."
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16. B.B. King
The beautiful thing about learning is that no-one can take it away from you." - B.B. King
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17. Jean Paul Richter
Jean Paul Richter: "Music is the poetry of the air."
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18. Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo: "Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."
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19. Confucius
Confucius: "Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without."
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20. Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake."
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21. Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde: "Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory."
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22. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Music is the universal language of mankind."
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23. T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot: "Music heard so deeply / That is not heard at all, but you are / The music / While the music lasts."
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24. Robert Browning
Robert Browning: "There is no truer truth obtainable by man than that which comes of music."
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25. Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein: "I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music."
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26. Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli: "Nature has given us two ears but only one mouth."
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27. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "I call architecture frozen music."
