Top 92 Quotes & Sayings by Yanni

I do listen to a lot of music, but I don't listen when I'm writing.

Being an athlete helps me get those grandiose emotions of pleasure and pain that are involved in sports.

You accomplish what you want to accomplish. I just don't ever want to hurt anybody doing it.

And going into my studio at night, particularly at night when everybody's asleep, is just a total pleasure for me.

The good news is when you open up in Vegas, you have a lot of friends, because they all come over to see your opening night.

When you do music concerts at Taj Mahal and the Acropolis, you have to be careful about your performance being appropriate with the place that surrounds you. It has to be appropriate to the culture - it should fit the building behind you, the environment you are playing it in and the culture of that place.

My music is based on melody and when I play the piano, it's as if I'm singing with them. When you try to transform that into a vocal, there was very little adjustment.

It has never been necessary for me to learn how to read music.

I don't really like to explain my songs.

New Age is a very small box. It was a term that was brought in by the music industry to classify music that is neither jazz, classical, pop or rock. They didn't know what to call it or what to do with it. So they threw it all together under this one name.

I dread naming pieces of music because being instrumental, most of the time the songs that I write are instrumental, I want the listener to make up their own story as to what it is and get the emotion pure without using logic.

Music is art, and once you become an artist, you need to learn how to accept criticism.

While most of the music I write is instrumental, I love to use the human voice as another instrument.

If you are a professional, the speed with which you react to a potential problem separates the men from the boys.

When you hear 'Truth of Touch,' I believe you recognize that it is me; however it's not the typical Yanni album.

I don't like to define my music. To me, music is pure emotion. It's language that can communicate certain emotions and the rhythms cuts across genders, cultures and nationalities. All you need to do is close your eyes and feel those emotions.

When it comes down to music, I have no balance. I am 100 percent. It is like full throttle. Five hundred miles an hour.

I love the road, and I love coming in contact with the fans. They talk to me and that's irreplaceable. But when I get tired, I head to the studio and I am in there for a long time.

Truth is the number one element in whatever you do with music.

Creativity is an inherent human quality of the highest order. When we create, we become more than the sum of our parts.

Not being able to read and write music is not the same as being illiterate in speech and writing.

A simple life is good with me. I don't need a whole lot. For me, a T-shirt, a pair of shorts, barefoot on a beach and I'm happy.

I just would use any instrument known to man in any combination as long as it describes an emotion.

I am so happy that I didn't go to school and I didn't have anyone to tell me how to position my fingers on the piano correctly.

Actually, with 'Truth of Touch' I wasn't even intending on making an album. I was just having fun. I had about a six-month period of down time, and I'm not very good at sitting around. So I kind of started going into the studio and having fun with new core mendin sounds.

There is no gender to my music. There's no male or female voice, no trite lyrics or poetry. It's much more abstract, so it lives with you longer.

I am so happy that I didn't go to school and I didn't have anyone to tell me how to position my fingers on the piano correctly. And what you do with music and what is the correct way to write it and what is not the correct way to write it.

With instrumental music, it is traditionally hard to get exposure.

Symphonies can generate a tremendous amount of sounds, beauty, and emotion. That is part of their human feel and sweetness. Keyboards, on the other hand, give us access to millions of sounds. When I put the two together, the result is unique, and it’s not only pleasing to the ear, but produces emotional responses that neither of the two can achieve on their own.

My father taught me that one of the most important abilities in life is to be able to take the pain and persevere, and for years this lesson had served me well.

Being happy with less is what makes a great human being, not a big house with marble floors, or everyone knowing who you are.

As I understand life at different levels, I can use music to express what these levels feel like to me. Hopefully the listener can be transported to this understanding by listening to the music.

Focused will is incredible. If you have a dream and you don’t give up no matter what obstacles come up, then life’s problems will fall away and you will get what you want. It happens. It works.

The studio work that I do allows me to connect with people around the world. You can't perform live for everyone, so having the ability to share my creative vision with others is very important to me as well.

All you need is passion. If you have a passion for something, you'll create the talent.

The most important battle is one to conquer yourself.

I know that our world is going through a very difficult time right now, but I will never lose my faith in humanity, and our incredible ability to overcome just about anything.

I tend to avoid writing music about initial reactions to situations, like frustration or anger. I’d rather wait till I go through the problem, and write about the learning that took place.

A little bit of fear means you are doing something worth doing--you are stretching...You are going outside your immediate grasp.

No matter what happens in life, never lose sight of who you are.

Sometimes we get caught up in our troubles and our problems and we let life slip away, but life is precious, all of life, and one must try to take in as much of it as possible.

Music is like creating an emotional painting. The sounds are the colors.

The greatest things in life - truth, creativity, imagination, love, kindness, compassion -are already inside us, and they're all free.

I don't want problems solved for me. I want the fishing rod, not the fish.

The less you want, the richer you are. The more you need in order to be happy, the more miserable you’ll be.

I truly believe greatness is in all of us. Don’t let anyone talk us out of our truth.

I'm an optimist by choice not by stupidity.

I really and truly believe that music represents humanity’s soul.

You need a mind open to possibility, conditioned to love the creative spirit we all have inside ourselves.

I learned from my parents to do my best to not react to negative emotions. I try to think about what has happened and find the lessons that can be learned from these difficult experiences. I try to deal with these negative emotions right away because, if they stay inside, they can hurt and do a lot of damage. I release them as soon as possible so I can be free.

We need to learn how to love each other. If we cannot do that, then we need to learn to respect one another. If we can't manage to do that, then we must learn to tolerate each other.

Everything great that has ever happened to humanity has begun as a single thought in someone's mind, and if anyone of us is capable of such a thought, then all of us has the same capacity, capability, because we're all the same.

Of all the forces that are exerted on us over our lifetime, at least for me, love has been the most powerful of all.

I believe we're responsible for everything that happens to us.

If you leave yourself open to learning, then you can benefit and enjoy an incredibly rewarding and insightful experience. These experiences are the driving force in my life, and they keep me alive and inspire not only my music but also my everyday life.

I’ve always lived in the moment.

My goal is to connect with people emotionally. I take life’s experiences and translate them into music — music that hopefully creates an impact on the listener.

Whether a person is spiritual or not, we all seek to get away from the stress, anger, and anxiety of everyday life. Some people drink, do drugs, or do worse to escape, and they hurt themselves in the process. Some people listen to music, mine included, and feel better.

There’s a very deep connection among human beings. All we have to do is open our minds to it.

My new question was, What do you do when your dreams come true? My answer was: Find new ones.