Music

What is music? "God's best gift to man," as Walter Savage Landor said? "The moonlight in the gloomy night of life," as Jean Paul Richter put it? Or perhaps—as Carl Maria von Weber and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow agree —"the universal language of mankind"? Whatever it is, it certainly "hath charms to soothe the savage breast," as William Congreve famously observed. And it "expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent" (Victor Hugo). These and more than 400 other striking quotes about music, from musicians, authors, poets, historical figures, and other celebrities, fill the pages of this entertaining, practical little book. Not all are on the serious side; many are deliciously witty: "Her singing was mutiny on the high C's" (Hedda Hopper); "I can hold a note as long as the Chase National Bank" (Ethel Merman); "Donny Osmond has van Gogh's ear for music" (Orson Welles). The quotations are arranged alphabetically according to author, from Fred Allen ("When Jack Benny plays the violin, it sounds as if the strings are still back in the cat") to Florian Zabach ("A musical talent is like having six fingers on one hand. You're born with it, you're different because of it, you can't do a thing about it except put it to use"). They constitute a collection that will not only be an indispensable reference for public speakers but will also delight general readers—especially music lovers—with its enduring wisdom and humor.