YEHUDI MENUHIN

I can only think of music as something inherent in every human being - a birthright. Music coordinates mind, body and spirit.

Music creates order out of chaos: for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody imposes continuity upon the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous.

The violinist is that peculiarly human phenomenon distilled to a rare potency - half tiger, half poet.

The violinist must possess the poet's gift of piercing the protective hide which grows on propagandists, stockbrokers and slave traders, to penetrate the deeper truth which lies within.

Improvisation is not the expression of accident but rather of the accumulated yearnings, dreams and wisdom of our very soul.

The art of creation lies in the gift of perceiving the particular and generalizing it, thus creating the particular again. It is therefore a powerful transforming force and a generator of creative solutions in relation to a given problem. It is the currency of human exchanges, which enables the sharing of states of the soul and conscience, and the discovery of new fields of experience.

The ultimate aim in life should be to fulfill to the utmost all that within our ability and to share that which is good and beautiful.

Homeopathy is one of the few medical specialties which carries no penalties -- only benefits.

We embark unhesitatingly on the path, in a direction that is absolutely right and urgent, supported by everyone, in the knowledge that this path is but a learning process... We have to keep on learning, creating, applying, by-passing, touching upon, refining and clarifying a number of notions and details that need to be improvised and applied and which, thank God, we cannot foresee. The only rigidity lies in our will, our conviction that we are on the right road and that our initiatives are most pressing.

We are living in a world where the individual must learn to command the raw materials of expression. He must not be dependent all the time on the ready-made, the finished product. It's the transferring, the changing of the raw into what is the expression of your own self – the whole joy and satisfaction and frustration of life is built into this.

It is a technique ideally suited to prevent physical and mental illness and to protect the body generally, developing an inevitable sense of self-reliance and assurance.

Life is not a finished product, it is only what we make of it, and if we make nothing of it, someone else will, and we will be his slave.

The practice of yoga induces a primary sense of measure and proportion. Reduced to our own body, our first instrument, we learn to play it, drawing from it maximum resonance and harmony.

Music is a therapy.It is a communication far more powerful than words, far more immediate, far more efficient.

In reality, infinity is merely the distance to the heart of a stranger. Eternity is the moment of cognition.

A society without its dreamers can never be free.

A dream is unrehearsed.

Our life must have an aim, but we must also ensure that the direction we take is a good one.

Music creates order out of chaos.

To be an outstanding musician, you have to be very attentive to the smallest detail and willing to have infinite patience in the pursuit of your ideal. You require absolute control and professionalism.

In all teaching there must be a fusion of authority as an adult providing a stable framework for the children in one's care, and humility as another human being ready to educate an equal who may turn out to be a superior.

A way of life which excludes the realm of the unknown and the mysterious is simply not in harmony with life itself.

If I wanted to play the violin, I had to work. Because anything that one wants to do really, and one loves doing, one must do everyday. It should be as easy to the artist and as natural as flying is to a bird. And you can’t imagine a bird saying well, I’m tired today, I’m not going to fly!

Searching and the route we take are more important than making a find.

We embark unhesitatingly on the path, in a direction that is absolutely right and urgent, supported by everyone, in the knowledge that this path is but a learning process