Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826)
"Music . . . the favorite passion of my soul."

Jellinek, George
"The history of a people is found in its songs."

Jewish Proverb
"Love thy neighbour even when he plays the trombone."

Job, 38.4-7
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner stone therof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"

Joel, Billy
"I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music."

Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
"It [music] is the only sensual pleasure without vice."

"Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable."

Jong, Erica
"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads."

Keats, John (1795-1821)
"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter."

"There is nothing stable in the world; uproar's your only music."

Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (1917-1963)
"The life of the arts far from being an interruption, a distraction in the life of a nation, is close to the center of a nation's purpose -- and is a test of the quality of a nation's civilisation."

Khan, Sufi Hazrat Inayat
"The knower of the mystery of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe."

Kilmer, Joyce (1886-1918)
"Because the road was steep and long, and through a dark and lonely land, God set upon my lips a song and put a lantern in my hand."

Kipling, Rudyard (1865-1936)
"Words are the most powerful drug used by mankind."

Laeuchli, Samuel
"No age can survive without poetry, song, dance, drama and the poetic vision of life, for without them we cannot discover the mystery of life."

Lamb, Charles (1775-1834)
"Sentimentally I am disposed to harmony, but organically I am incapable of a tune."

Landon, L.E.
"We love music for the buried hopes, the garnered memories, the tender feelings it can summon at a touch."

Landowska, Wanda (1877-1959)
"The tragedy in the interpretation of music of the past lies in the fact that it is confined to concert halls, congresses of musicology, or conservatory classes . . . . Music needs air, sunlight and liberty to be alive. It is only then that it will impart to us surprising secrets."

Lanier, Sidney (1842-1881)
"Music is love in search of a word."

Latham, Geoffrey
"Music is the vernacular of the human soul."

Lee, General Robert Edward (1807-1870)
"I don't see how we could have any army without music."

LeGuin, Ursula K.
"It had never occurred to me before that music and thinking are so much alike. In fact, you could say music is another way of thinking, or maybe thinking is another kind of music."

Lennon, John (1940-1980)
"If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that . . . I believe in what I do, and I'll say it."

Levi-Strauss, Claude
"Since music is a language with some meaning at least for the immense majority of mankind, although only a tiny minority of people are capable of formulating a meaning in it, and since it is the only language with the contradictory attributes of being at once intelligible and untranslatable, the music creator is a being comparable to the gods, and music itself the supreme mystery of the science of man, a mystery that all the various disciplines come up against and which holds the key to their progress."

Lewis, Clive Staples (1898-1963)
"How tonic Beethoven is, and how festal -- one has the feeling of having taken part in the revelry of giants."

"Isn't it funny the way some combinations of words can give you -- almost apart from their meaning -- a thrill like music?"

Lincoln, President Abraham (1809-1865)
"This is exactly the kind of music I want the troops to hear." [upon hearing a brass band]

Lindberg, Anne Morrow
"A note of music gains significance from the silence on either side."

Liszt, Franz (1811-1886)
"Music may be termed the universal language of mankind, by which human feelings are made equally intelligible to all."

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882)
"Music is the universal language of mankind."

Loren, Sophia
"Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent."

Luther, Martin (1483-1546)
"I am not satisfied with him who despises music, as all fanatics do; for music is an endowment and a gift of God, not a gift of men. It also drives away the devil and makse people cheerful; one forgets all anger, unchasteness, pride and other vices. I place music next to theology and give it the highest praise. And we see how David and all saints put their pious thoughts into verse, rhyme, and songs, because music reigns in times of peace."

"Music is an outstanding gift of God and next to theology. I would not want to give up my slight knowledge of music for a great consideration. And youth should be taught this art; for it makes fine, skillful people."

"We must teach music in schools; a schoolmaster ought to have skill in music, or I would not regard him, neither should we ordain young men as preachers, unless they have well exercised in music."

Lutoslawski, Witold (1913-1994)
"People whose sensibility is destroyed by music in trains, airports, lifts, cannot concentrate on a Beethoven Quartet."

Mahler, Gustav (1860-1911)
"The symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything."

Manager of Elvis Presley
"You ought to go back to driving a truck." [upon firing Presley after a 1954 concert]

Mann, Thomas (1875-1955)
"There is something suspicious about music, gentlemen. I insist that she is, by her nature, equivocal. I shall not be going too far in saying at once that she is politically suspect."

Marley, Bob (1945-1981)
"Music goes on forever."

Marx, A.B.
"The life of music flows onward in melody or in various melodies side by side; it is important, above all, to preserve this life undisturbed and unadulterated in its flow, and in its entirety -- just as it is the first duty of man to be, above all, true to himself and to his calling."

Mascagni, Pietro (1863-1945)
"Modern music is as dangerous as narcotics."

Mechem, Kirke
"Only become a musician if there is absolutely no other way you can make a living."

Mencken, Henry Louis (1880-1956)
"Opera in English is, in the main, about as sensible as baseball in Italian."

Mendelssohn, Felix (1809-1847)
"People often complain that music is too ambiguous, that what they should think when they hear it is so unclear, whereas everyone understands words. With me, it is exactly the opposite, and not only with regard to an entire speech but also with individual words. These too seem to me so ambiguous, so vague, so easily misunderstood in comparison to genuine music, which fills the soul with a thousand things better than words."

"What a divine calling is music! Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God."

Merrill, Robert (1917-)
"If you think you've hit a false note, sing loud. When in doubt, sing loud."

Merton, Thomas
"Art is not an end in itself. It introduces the soul into a higher spiritual order, which it expresses and in some cases explains. Music and art and poetry attune the soul to God because they induce a kind of contact with the Creator and Ruler of the Universe."

Metheny, Pat
"There's more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that's because the audience doesn't really know what's happening."

MGM Executive
"Forget it. No Civil War picture ever made a nickel." [advising against investing in Gone With The Wind]

MGM Executive Memo
"That rainbow song's no good. Take it out." [after first showing of The Wizard of Oz]

Michelangelo (1475-1564)
"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

Miller, Henry
"Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don't take it too seriously."

Milton, John (1608-1674)
"Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie."

Monteverdi, Claudio (1567-1643)
"The end of all good music is to affect the soul."

Morrison, Van
"Music is spiritual. The music business is not."

Mungers, Theodore
"Like everything else in nature, music is a becoming, and it becomes its full self when its sounds and laws are used by intelligent men for the production of harmony, and so made the vehicle of emotion and thought."

Newberry, David B.
"Music should be the words of the soul."

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (1844-1900)
"The only God worth believing in is a dancing God."

"Without music life would be a mistake."

Nixon, Richard
"If you want to make beautiful music you must play the black and the white notes together."

O'Shaughnessy, Arthur William Edgar
"We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams, wandering by lone sea-breakers, and sitting by desolate streams; world-losers and world-forsakers, on whom the pale moon gleams; we are the movers and shakers of the world forever, it seems."

Paderewski, Ignace Jan (1860-1941)
"If I do not practice for one day, I know it. If I do not practice for two days, the critics know it. If I do not practice for three days, the world knows it and says 'Paderewski has lost his touch.'"

Parker, Charley (1920-1955)
"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But man, there's no boundary line to art."

Pepys, Samuel (1633-1703)
"Music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business is."

Picasso, Pablo
"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

Pio, Eric
"A book is a story for the mind. A song is a story for the soul."

Plato (427?-347? bce)
"Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness and life to everything."

"Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful."

Plotinus (205?-270?)
"All music, based upon melody and rhythm, is the earthly representative of heavenly music."

Plutarch (46?-120?)
"Medicine, to produce health, has to examine disease; and music, to create harmony, must investigate discord."

Pound, Ezra (Loomis) (1885-1972)
"If I could believe the Quakers banned music because it was so damn bad, I should view them with approval."

"Winter is icumen in. Lhude sing g-ddamn."

Presley, Elvis (1935-1977)
"I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."

Price, Leontyne
"The ultimate of being successful is the luxury of giving yourself the time to do what you want to do."

Prokofiev, Sergei
"There are still so many beautiful things to be said in C Major."

Pythagoras (582-507? bce)
"There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres."