Top 122 Quotes & Sayings by Itzhak Perlman - Page 2

As for minimalism, I don't care, don't care, don't care to repeat myself, repeat myself.

Architects have to become more aware of exactly what is involved in designing barrier-free buildings and homes.

If you put four different people on a podium conducting the same downbeat, you get four different sounds. It's a little mysterious and fascinating. There's so much you can do with motions and body movements besides giving accurate beats.

Brahms is one of my all-time favorite composers.

I am humbled and honored to receive the Genesis Prize, recognizing not just my professional achievements and my desire to improve the world, but also my commitment to my Jewish identity, Jewish values, and Jewish culture.

There is no such thing as getting rid of nervousness.

The arts are part of the fiber of American society and should get Federal support.

The problems of the disabled are unpopular.

The difference is that with Ebola, it is such a devastating disease, and there is still no cure. They're still working on vaccines. The fact of the matter with polio, there is a cure; there is a vaccine.

I'm a mushroom freak. I make a mushroom soup where I use maybe six or seven varieties, not just portobello and shiitake, but dried porcini and morels.

I actually wanted to play the violin before I had polio, and then afterwards, there was no reason not to.

The 'Mozart Symphony No. 27' is an early composition. I find it charming.

Access Living is a powerful voice for people in the Chicago area who live with disabilities.

I always find Bach to be an expression of a love of life. There's an enthusiasm that's absolutely contagious.

Whenever I play recitals, the part where I talk about music and my experiences of music, audiences always like it. They feel more involved with an artist who talks to them. It's a nice experience for me as well.

I have a very simple philosophy. One has to separate the abilities from the disabilities. The fact I cannot walk, that I need crutches or a scooter or whatever it is, has nothing to do with my playing the violin.

My experience with the Detroit Symphony has been musically very satisfying. They have a wonderful sound, which for me is one of the most important qualities in an orchestra.

Life is always full of challenges. I believe you're never happy unless you're consistently making challenges for yourself.

It is good medicine to go to a concert hall and forget the harshness of what's going on. It can be a very positive thing.

The thing is that I always consider myself lucky that I can actually cry listening to some music.

I say to string players in small chamber orchestras, 'it's always easy to become a passenger on the journey in sound, just adding volume to the whole. But if you play in an individual way, it makes the difference between good and great sound in an orchestra.'

Everybody's saying, you know, 'You're so heroic and so on despite of the polio that you had and so on.' Look, I had polio when I was four. So when you're four years old, you know, you get used to things very, very quickly.

I always say separate your abilities from your disabilities. You know, if I could play the violin, I don't have to play it standing up. I can play it sitting down and so on.

One of the great challenges is to know when things are not right.

The Violin of my dreams. If you wanna play a pianissimo that is almost inaudible and yet it carries through a hall that seats 3,000 people, there's your Strad.

Same thing with harmonies. If you hear something that harmonically is interesting, express it. So that's what I'm saying about talking the music rather than just playing through.

Sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.

A Century of Wisdom is universal and will enrich readers for generations to come.

I couldn't only do one thing--I don't want the personal hell of oneness.

Nothing is better for my playing than teaching because when you teach, you have to think and you have to listen what other people do. And then all of a sudden, you play yourself and then you say, my goodness, I don't need a teacher. I'm my own teacher. Then I can react to what I'm doing immediately. It really improves.

I can actually see the sound in my head. I can actually see it... But each sound is different so this one has that sparkle, there is a sparkle to the sound.

One must always practice slowly. If you learn something slowly, you forget it slowly.

You decide to be a musician, you have to put in the time.

Never miss an opportunity to teach; when you teach others, you teach yourself.

In difficult times, people just like to hear music. They like to be moved by what they hear. And music speaks different languages.

Believe me, I've had interviews where the person says, "So when did you start and why? What about your parents?" I say to them, "Please, have you heard of the word Google?"

I always consider myself lucky that I can actually cry listening to some music.

Another thing that you really do when you play, that you're supposed to do, is colors. You know, you cannot play with one color. If you play with one color, again, it's like watching a beautiful painting, a drawing, but it's all in blue or it's all in red. May be very nice, but not very interesting.

Every musical phrase has a purpose. It's like talking. If you talk with a particular purpose, people listen to you, but if you just recite, it's not as meaningful.

Beethoven concertos ... Tchaicovsky concertos ... with a lot of these wonderful masterpieces there's always something wonderful to find ... there's always something new to find.

Everybody has a different kind of talent and a different timetable as to when they develop.

Ask many of us who are disabled what we would like in life and you would be surprised how few would say, 'Not to be disabled.' We accept our limitations.

Life is not as easy as it could be for a person with a disability.

I can't walk very well, but I'm not onstage to do walking. I'm on the stage to play.

I do three things. I do teaching, I do conducting and I do playing. And each one of those sort of helps the other.

A lot of society tries to put people with disabilities into one cube, and when you think about it, many, many people have different types of disabilities, and you cannot put a code that applies towards everyone - generally, they can be guidelines, but in the long run, interior designers and architects need more education on the subject. That's what's missing.

A lot of people like to think that polio was a inspiration in what I do. I think that music has to do with what kind of passion do you have.

Just imagine yourself in a wheelchair. Go through the building. If there's a place you can't go in, it's not accessible.

There is nothing like a fine Italian sound.

Not many people like it when they get criticism. Of course, if you have someone who does tell you and you do have a rapport, that's great. But don't rely on it. You have to rely on yourself.

The thing is that what you try to do when you play is you try to play not below a certain level. In other words, it can be a special day where it would be phenomenal, but if it's not below a certain level, that's the goal. You know, that's what you want to do. That's why you practice and so on.

..I heard Ori Kam and was deeply impressed with his achievements as a violist. His technical and interpretive skills are truly unique. I see a great future for him.

Don't play the way it goes. Play the way it is. And the way it is every time you play it, it's slightly different. Look for something. So that's the challenge not to be bored.

Perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.

I'm just a one-instrument player. I have been known to play a blender, but I basically play - just play the violin.

I don't know if it's ever happened to you, but it's one of my funniest and saddest experiences, when you go into a hotel, and they have an accessible walk-in shower. So you go in and open the curtain, and there is a bench off to the side of the shower. However, the shower is rectangular. On one side there's a bench, but the faucets are across from you. So if you sit on the bench, you cannot reach the faucets.

Every person with a disability has a slightly different kind of disability. Not everybody has the same problems. Usually the wheelchairs are the wheelchairs. It's the same height and so on. It's a problem.

When you talk about a million bucks, if you think about it very carefully, it's not that much money, if you start to divide it. You have to figure out a philosophy as to whom you want to give it to.

If you play something well, I don't care what it is. I mean, I don't play an electric [violin] - I tried. It's actually interesting.

I find personally that when I go to a place where I can't get in, I feel hostility from whatever it is, a hotel, a shop, a market, a street corner where there are no curb cuts, because somebody forgot to put them in, and where I have to go two blocks to the corner to do it. A lot of the excuses are, "Well, this is an old building." That's my favorite one. "This is an old building." It's as though 50 years ago, people with disabilities did not exist. As if the disabled are a new problem. It has always been a problem.