Pianissimo Quotes & Sayings

The work of art must seize upon you, wrap you up in itself, carry you away. It is the means by which the artist conveys his passion; it is the current which he puts forth which sweeps you along in his passion. — Pierre-Auguste Renoir

I pray God to deliver me from God ! — Friedrich Nietzsche

No need to choose; become choiceless. And whatsoever happens happens; whatsoever happens is good. Let things happen rather than trying to do, and you will be surprised that all ambiguity disappears. It is a by-product of the chooser's mind, the choosing mind, that creates ambiguity. Otherwise there is no dilemma. Negative and positive are perfectly balancing in life. — Rajneesh

With American orchestras, in particular, because they play in such huge halls, getting a true pianissimo is very hard. — Esa-Pekka Salonen

I will never forget Oprah's [Winfrey] major contribution to my success by having me perform on her show (March '91) and introducing me as, "the voice that brought her out of the shower!" — Oleta Adams

What women wanted to be eaten alive, choked by a thrusting tongue? Not me, I wanted to be played like a violin, strummed pianissimo, in largo timing, fingered into legato, and let it grow into crescendo. — V.C. Andrews

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. — Itzhak Perlman

But for me, dinner at a fine restaurant was the ultimate luxury. It was the very height of civilization. For what was civilization but the intellect's ascendancy out of the doldrums of necessity (shelter, sustenance and survival) into the ether of the finely superfluous (poetry, handbags and haute cuisine)? So removed from daily life was the whole experience that when all was rotten to the core, a fine dinner could revive the spirits. If and when I had twenty dollars left to my name, I was going to invest it right here in an elegant hour that couldn't be hocked. — Amor Towles

Modernity starts with the state monopoly on violence, and ends with the state's monopoly on fiscal irresponsibility. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I love the sound of snow ... You can hear it even if you are only standing on a balcony. [The sound] is only minimal, not even a real noise: a breath, a trifle of a sound. You have the same thing in music: if in the score there is a pianissimo marked that ends in nothing. Up thee you can feel this 'nothing'. With an orchestra it is very difficult to achieve it. The Berlin Philharmonic manage it sometimes. — Claudio Abbado

She focused on that nothingness, imagined it as ink spilling over everything she could possibly think or feel. — Marie Rutkoski

Plant the seed whose vine or tree may hang you. — A.R. Ammons