Heifetz Jascha Quotes & Sayings

There is no top. There are always further heights to reach. — Jascha Heifetz

If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it. — Jascha Heifetz

Criticism does not disturb me, for I am my own severest critic. Always in my playing I strive to surpass myself, and it is this constant struggle that makes music fascinating to me. — Jascha Heifetz

No matter what side of an argument you're on, you always find some people on your side that wish you were on the other side. — Jascha Heifetz

He once told a reporter he wanted his obituary to be short - "just make it born in Russia, first lesson at 3, debut at 7, debut in America in 1917". — Jascha Heifetz

I see the game now. You can't write with ink, and you can't write with your own heart's blood, but you can write with the heart's blood of some one else. You have to be a cad before you can be an artist.

O'Henry 'The Plutonian Fire' (1905) — O. Henry

There are no conflicts which cannot be resolved unless the true promoters of them remain hidden. — L. Ron Hubbard

The great mystery isn't that people do things badly but that they occasionally do a few things well. The only thing that is universal is incompetence. Strength is always specific! Nobody ever commented, for example, that the great violinist Jascha Heifetz probably couldn't play the trumpet very well. — Peter Drucker

The zenith of virtuosity, a violinist like Jascha Heifetz, the supernatural in a pianist like Vladimir Horowitz, these are performers who were so idiosyncratic and personal that to imitate them would be like filling somebody else's bottle with your wine. — David Finckel

The discipline of practice every day is essential. When I skip a day, I notice a difference in my playing. After two days, the critics notice, and after three days, so does the audience. — Jascha Heifetz

I'll tell you, there's no goodies and baddies in the world, there's just people with intentions that sometimes clash. — Rupert Friend

If the Almighty himself played the violin, the credits would still read 'Rubinstein, God, and Piatigorsky', in that order. — Jascha Heifetz

I occasionally play works by contemporary composers and for two reasons. First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven. — Jascha Heifetz

Can you appreciate music without playing it? Yes, you can. You can appreciate baseball without playing it. Many people attend a football game merely for the crowd, the excitement, the color. — Jascha Heifetz

When people come to play music as they do to play bridge, civilization will have taken the longest stride forward since the beginning of time. — Jascha Heifetz

I have discovered three things which know no geographical borders - classical music, American jazz, and applause as the sign of the public's favor. — Jascha Heifetz

In suffering, we trust the Saviour to be our strength. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Practice like it means everything in the world to you. Perform like you don't give a damn. — Jascha Heifetz

My father was a trained accountant, a BCom from Sydenham College and a self-taught violinist. In the 1920s, when he was in his teens, he heard a great violinist, Jascha Heifetz, and he was so inspired listening to him that he bought himself a violin, and with a little help from an Italian teacher, he learned to play it. — Zubin Mehta

Big fat hairy monkey, hands a couple of octaves wide? — Terry Pratchett