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Leopold Stokowski Quotes

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.

Leopold Stokowski
Inspirational, Music, Art
Leopold Stokowski's address to an audience at Carnegie Hall, as quoted in The New York Times, May 11, 1967.

Conscience is that which hurts when everything else feels marvelous.

Leopold Stokowski
Hurt, Feels, Marvelous

Music comes from the heart and returns to the heart... music is spontaneous, impulsive expression... its range is without limit... music is forever growing... music can be one element to help us build a new conception of life in which the madness and cruelty of wars will be replaced by a simple understanding of the brotherhood of man.

Leopold Stokowski
War, Heart, Simple
"Music For All Of Us". Book by Leopold Stokowski, 1943.

I simply make music, and people have always been foolish enough to pay me for it. I never told them that I would have done it all for nothing.

Leopold Stokowski
People, Done, Pay
CBS TV, 1976.

Music can be all things to all men. It is like a great dynamic sun in the center of a solar system which sends out its rays and inspiration in every direction... It is as if the heavens open and a divine voice calls. Something in our souls responds and understands.

Leopold Stokowski
Inspiration, Voice, Heaven
"Music For All Of Us". Book by Leopold Stokowski, 1943.

The highest reaches of music come thrillingly close to the central core and essence of life itself.

Leopold Stokowski
Essence, Essence Of Life, Highest
Leopold Stokowski (1943). “Music for all of us”

I believe in a passionately strong feeling for the poetry of life - for the beautiful, the mysterious, the romantic, the ecstatic - the loveliness of Nature, the lovability of people, everything that excites us, everything that starts our imagination working, LAUGHTER, gaiety, strength, heroism, love, tenderness, every time we see - however dimly - the godlike that is in everyone and want to kneel in reverence.

Leopold Stokowski
Beautiful, Strong, Laughter
Leopold Stokowski (1943). “Music for all of us”

Music appeals to me for what can be done with it.

Leopold Stokowski
Done, Appeals, Mediums

As a boy I remember how terribly real the statues of the saints would seem at 7 o'clock Mass-before I'd had breakfast. From that I learned always to conduct hungry.

Leopold Stokowski
Real, Boys, Saint
The New York Times, April 18, 1967.

It seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce, and so I endured this wretched existence an excitable body which a sudden change can throw from the best into the worst state. Patience I must now choose for my guide, and I have done so. Divine One, thou lookest into my inmost soul, thou knowest it, thou knowest that love of man and desire to do good live therein.

Leopold Stokowski
Men, Soul, Desire

It's hard to put into words the impact of the perfect lyric, melody or contagious beat that moves you in an unexpected way. Authors, composers and artists have tried - and here we've rounded up our favorite quotes that help to begin forming structure around such an unspoken universal force. Which are most meaningful to you? If you had to sum up the power of music and sound in one sentence, what would you say?"A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence."

Leopold Stokowski
Meaningful, Moving, Artist

On matters of intonation and technicalities I am more than a martinet - I am a martinetissimo.

Leopold Stokowski
Matter, Technicalities, Intonation
Leopold Stokowski's statement recalled in obituaries (September 13, 1977), as quoted in "Simpson's Contemporary Quotations" compiled by James B. Simpson, 1988.

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