Arthur Rubinstein Quotes & Sayings

Music is not a hobby, not even a passion with me; music is me. I feel what people get out of me is this outlook on life, which comes out in my music. My music is the last expression of all that. — Arthur Rubinstein

When I sit in Paris in a cafe, surrounded by people, I don't sit casually - I go over a certain sonata in my head and discover new things all the time. — Arthur Rubinstein

At breakfast, I might pass a Brahms symphony in my head. Then I am called to the phone, and half an hour later I find it's been going on all the time and I'm in the third movement. — Arthur Rubinstein

To be alive, to able to see, to walk ... it's all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle. — Arthur Rubinstein

My father, good or bad, mistakes or no, had a direct line from his heart to the music to the people, to the audience. He played with logic and his own inner truth. — Arthur Rubinstein

Sometimes I think, not so much am I a pianist, but a vampire. All my life I have lived off the blood of Chopin. — Arthur Rubinstein

What good are vitamins? Eat a lobster, eat a pound of caviar - live! If you are in love with a beautiful blonde with an empty face and no brains at all, don't be afraid. Marry her! Live! — Arthur Rubinstein

Sometimes when I sit down to practice and there is no one else in the room, I have to stifle an impulse to ring for the elevator man and offer him money to come in and hear me. — Arthur Rubinstein

I am tired before the concert, not afterward. — Arthur Rubinstein

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. — Arthur Rubinstein

At every concert I leave a lot to the moment. I must have the unexpected, the unforeseen. I want to risk, to dare. I want to be surprised by what comes out. I want to enjoy it more than the audience. That way the music can bloom anew. It's like making love. The act is always the same, but each time it's different. — Arthur Rubinstein

I'm a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine - and that's all I want to have. — Arthur Rubinstein

I feel that special secret current between the public and me. I can hold them with one little note in the air, and they will not breathe. That is a great, great moment. — Arthur Rubinstein

Of course there is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life, and what it brings — Arthur Rubinstein

The seasons are what a symphony ought to be: four perfect movements in harmony with each other. — Arthur Rubinstein

You cannot play the piano well unless you are singing within you. — Arthur Rubinstein

People are always setting conditions for happiness ... I love life without condition. — Arthur Rubinstein

Yes, I am very lucky, but I have a little theory about this. I have noticed through experience and observation that providence, nature, God, or what I would call the power of creation seems to favor human beings who accept and love life unconditionally, and I am certainly one who does with all my heart. — Arthur Rubinstein

I'm passionately involved in life: I love its change, its color, its movement. To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings - it's all a miracle. — Arthur Rubinstein

Even when I'm sick and depressed, I love life. — Arthur Rubinstein

The result was magnificent ... I became the father of two girls and two boys, lovely children by good fortune they all look like my wife. — Arthur Rubinstein

Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition. — Arthur Rubinstein

Don't tell me how talented you are. Tell me how hard you work. — Arthur Rubinstein

When I was young, I used to have successes with women because I was young. Now I have successes with women because I am old. Middle age was the hardest part. — Arthur Rubinstein

We only begin to live life when we learn to accept it on its own terms. — Arthur Rubinstein

It took great courage to ask a beautiful young woman to marry me. Believe me, it is easier to play the whole Petrushka on the piano. — Arthur Rubinstein

Life is the game that must be played, this truth at least, good friends, we know; so live and laugh, nor be dismayed as one by one the phantoms go. — Arthur Rubinstein

Stories about [the German composer Johannes] Brahms's rudeness and wit amused me in particular. For instance, I loved the one about how a great wine connoisseur invited the composer to dinner. 'This is the Brahms of my cellar,' he said to his guests, producing a dust-covered bottle and pouring some into the master's glass. Brahms looked first at the color of the wine, then sniffed its bouquet, finally took a sip, and put the glass down without saying a word. 'Don't you like it?' asked the host. 'Hmm,' Brahms muttered. 'Better bring your Beethoven!' — Arthur Rubinstein

Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back. — Arthur Rubinstein