Vladimir Horowitz Quotations

I am a general. My soldiers are the keys and I have to command them.

If you want me to play only the notes without any specific dynamics, I will never make one mistake.

I must tell you I take terrible risks. Because my playing is very clear, when I make a mistake you hear it. If you want me to play only the notes without any specific dynamics, I will never make one mistake. Never be afraid to dare.

My future is in my past and my past is my present. I must now make the present my future.

The piano is an orchestra with 88...... things, you know

My face is my passport.

Your mind must control, but you must have heart . . . . Give your feeling free.

I have no style, because I change each time . . . each day I play differently. Today I play differently than yesterday.

Played percussively, the piano is a bore. If I go to a concert and someone plays like that I have two choices: go home or go to sleep. The goal is to make the piano sing, sing, sing.

Everyone goes to the forest; some go for a walk to be inspired, and others go to cut down the trees.

There are three kinds of pianists: Jewish pianists, homosexual pianists, and bad pianists.

False notes [on the piano] are human. Why does everything have to be perfect? You know, perfection itself is imperfection.

Piano playing consists of common sense, heart and technical resources. All three should be equally developed. Without common sense you are a fiasco, without technique an amateur, without heart a machine. The profession does have its hazards.

Perfection itself is imperfection.