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  • "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."
  • "But then there's a moment like tonight, a profound and transcendent experience, the feeling as if a door has opened, and it's all because of that instrument, that incredible, magical instrument."
    • from the TV show Northern Exposure (episode 5x13, Mite Makes Right)
  • "Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune."
  • "For those of you seeking immortality, forget politics. Support the arts instead."
  • "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."
  • "I look at it this way, if the guitarist jumps ship, and we can't replace him, i'll point my gun at my drummer, and he'll point his at me, we'll count to three and end this madness."
    • Toast
  • "If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music."
  • "If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience."
  • "In the beginning there was Jack, and Jack had a groove. And from this groove came the grooves of all grooves. And while one day visciously throwing down on his box, Jack boldly declared: "Let there be house!" And housemusic was born. I am you see, I am the creator, and this is my house, and in my house there is only housemusic. But I am not so selfish, because once you're into my house it then becomes our house and our housemusic. And you see, no one man owns house, because housemusic is a universal language spoken and understood by all. You see, house is a feeling, that no one can understand really, unless you're deep into the vibe of house. House is an uncontrolable desire to jack your body. And as I told you before: This is our house and our housemusic. In every house, you understand, there is a keeper and in this house the keeper is Jack. Now, some of you might wonder "Who is Jack and what is it that Jack does?" Jack is the one who gives you the power to jack your body. Jack is the one who gives you the power to do the snake. Jack is the one who gives you the key to the wiggly worm. Jack is the one who learns you how to walk your body. Jack is the one that can bring nations and nations of all jackers together under one house. You may be black, you may be white, you may be Jew or Gentile... It dont make a difference in our house. And this is fresh."
  • "Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it, everything is a blank slate."
  • "Playing the blues is like having to be black twice - Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts, but I never noticed."
  • "There is only one better thing than music - live music."
    • Jacek Bukowski
  • "The immoral profession of musical criticism must be abolished."
  • "…I think, fundamentally, music is something inherently people love and need and relate to, and a lot of what's out right now feels like McDonalds. It's quick-fix. You kind of have a stomachache afterwards."
  • "I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music."
  • "It seems like people get afraid of a certain music if they can't pigeonhole it to their satisfaction...Good music is good music, and that should be enough for anybody."
  • The most important thing to me as a songwriter is the breath. The most important thing I could say to somebody is, "Sometimes I just breathe you in."
  • Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
  • Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.
  • Music is a laudable medium of soothening the hearts of people.
    • M.S. Subbulakshmi
  • Music is essentially useless, as life is: but both have an ideal extension which lends utility to its conditions.
  • Music is everything one listens to with the intention of listening to music.
  • Music is the application of sounds to the canvas of silence.
  • Music is the exaltation of the mind derived from things eternal, bursting forth in sound.
  • Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.
  • Music is what I love and it's what I feel and it's in me and to know that I can do something that I enjoy and hopefully bring some enjoyment to other people through is an incredible felling and I am just really thankful for it.
  • Music, like religion, unconditionally brings in its train all the moral virtues to the heart it enters, even though that heart is not in the least worthy.
  • Music makes one feel so romantic - at least it always gets on one's nerves - which is the same thing nowadays.
  • Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.
  • My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.
  • My mother's idol among pianists was Paderewski. I knew that I would never be a Paderewski, so I searched among the other great pianists of the day, looking for a model, and I found one at last who seemed to be just right for me. He was Vladimir de Pachmann. His style was refined, and so was mine. He was distinguished for the fact that especially in the works of Chopin he struck a great number of wrong notes. It was here that I knew I could rival him, and perhaps even excel him. You see, he struck his wrong notes in extremely rapid passages; I worked at my technique until I was certain that I could strike great numbers of wrong notes in very slow passages.
  • No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.
  • Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body.
  • There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
  • There are two means of refuge from the misery of life—music and cats.
  • Those who are affected by music can be divided into two classes: those who hear the spiritual meaning, and those who hear the material sound. There are good and evil results in each case.
    • Anonymous
  • When we are touched by a song, it is because the artist cannot hide himself.
  • The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, "Is there a meaning to music?" My answer would be, "Yes." And "Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?" My answer to that would be, "No."
  • "Look, I'm a pop star... I'm very busy. I do not have time to learn how to play a musical instrument."
  • The only thing to rely on is music, as it is the only thing that will be there when you need it.
  • Music is everywhere from the sound of your alarm to the word goodnight.
  • "Never sound pompous. You always sound noble, noble. Absolute character of music is nobility. Even popular music can be noble, you see. If it's not noble, then it's not very good..Music is an art of emotion, of nobility, of dignity, of greatness, of love, of tenderness. All that must be brought out in music but never a show of pompousness."
  • "I think of music more like a mirror that reflects the things we feel inside to the rest of the world."
    • Joshua Greenway when reflecting on the various claims that music gives meaning to life.
  • "Music is a blessing, Life is just an opportunity to listen to it."
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