Quotes from Benjamin Zander

I'm so sorry for you; your lives have been so easy. You can't play great music unless your heart's been broken.

Everybody loves classical music they just don't know about it yet.

The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful.

It's not a question of how much power you can hoard for yourself, but how much you can give away.

It is the tuning of the universe... It's as if at the beginning of the symphony God turns up the volume just a tiny bit.

...the player who looks least engaged may be the most committed member of the group. A cynic, after all, is a passionate person who does not want to be disappointed again.

The job of the leader is to speak to the possibility.

The major difference between the 'best' and the 'average' is that the 'best' get as much pleasure from practice as performance.

Throw yourself into life as someone who makes a difference, accepting that you may not understand how or why.

Life is revealed as a place to contribute and we as contributors. Not because we have done a measurable amount of good, but because that is the story we tell.

Live the rest of your life in possibility

I have a definition of success.

I have a definition of success. For me, it's very simple. It's not about wealth and fame and power. It's about how many shining eyes I have around me.

The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful.

It's one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading to realize whatever he's dreaming.

In the measurement world, you set a goal and strive for it. In the universe of possibility, you set the context and let life unfold.

how absurd human beings are and how magnificent.

Life is revealed as a place to contribute and we as contributors. Not because we have done a measurable amount of good, but because that is the story we tell.

Mistakes can be like ice. If we resist them, we may keep on slipping into a posture of defeat. If we include mistakes in our definition of performance, we are likely to glide through them and appreciate the beauty of the longer run.

I settled on a game called I am a contribution. Unlike success and failure, contribution has no other side. It is not arrived at by comparison.

the player who looks least engaged may be the most committed member of the group. A cynic, after all, is a passionate person who does not want to be disappointed again.

Right. So if the eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. If the eyes are not shining, you get to ask a question. And this is the question: who am I being that my players' eyes are not shining? We can do that with our children, too. Who am I being, that my children's eyes are not shining? That's a totally different world.

It's one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading to realize whatever he's dreaming. Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, 'I have a dream. Of course, I'm not sure they'll be up to it.

I have a definition of success. For me, it's very simple. It's not about wealth and fame and power. It's about how many shining eyes I have around me.