For pure violin motivation, here are some quotes from those musicians, conductors, and composers who know the instrument and its challenges best:
"The academy gave me a grounding in discipline and hard work that has sustained me throughout life, and the lessons I learned there I now try to impress on young people."
– Sir George Solti
"Of course the most difficult thing on the violin is always intonation. The second one is rhythm. If you play in tune, in time with a good sound that's already high level. Those three are the main things." - Ruggiero Ricci
"The aim was for perfection, but perfection can be like a computer programme. Of course, I’m not saying you should play out of tune or be messy, but there has to be a balance."
-Viktoria Mullova
"The true mission of the violin is to imitate the accents of the human voice, a noble mission that has earned for the violin the glory of being called the king of instruments." - Charles Auguste De Beriot
"When you play a violin piece, you are a storyteller, and you’re telling a story."
"What drew me to the violin was mastering the instrument technically, which I'm continuing to do. You want to push boundaries, to not always be in your comfort zone. If you don't, you get stale. So you have to find areas of growth." -Joshua Bell
"A violin should be played with love, or not at all." - Joseph Wechsberg, Czech writer and musician, author of "The Glory of the Violin".
"If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. Therefore, respect every musician in his proper place." – Robert Schumann
"I played the violin my whole life. I wanted to play from the time I was just a little kid, and I've always loved dance as well. I wanted to make people smile. I wanted to add an extra energy to my playing and make it visual and make it unique and fun. – Lindsey Stirling
"There is no top. There are always further heights to reach." -Jascha Heifetz
"An artistic statement rarely emerges from a vacuum. It grows out of some kernel of inspiration that eventually becomes an individual creation." ― Hilary Hahn
"Sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left." ― Itzhak Perlman
"Music creates order out of chaos: for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody imposes continuity upon the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous." – Yehudi Menuchin
"We are fans of Mozart and Beethoven, as well as 'South Park' and Borat. We believe that we can attract many people who eschew the serious ambiance of concert halls and don't go to classical music concerts because of such reasons. However, there is a 'serious humor' on the stage; funny and ridiculous. That is important!" – Aleksey Igudesman
"If you're playing within your capability, what's the point? If you're not pushing your own technique to its own limits with the risk that might just crumble at any moment, then you're not really doing your job." – Nigel Kennedy
"The only downside to playing the violin is that you never know when you're going to be asked to play. I could be out to dinner or having a drink at a bar, and someone could just give me a violin, and I've got to be ready to play." – Charlie Siem
"It's not the music is too imprecise for words, but too precise." – Felix Mendelssohn
"Honesty comes only with sound health, physically and psychologically, and an honest mind cannot be separated from the most genuine acknowledgement of expression. It should be recognized that pure perfection is unobtainable. Therefore, the realization that one's irrevocable faults and deficiencies must be faced guides us toward the first step of learning. We must each accept any situation as it actually is, with dignity. In that fine balance of acceptance of self and the mission to better oneself, compassion, humility, and discipline are nurtured."
– Midori Goto
These quotes were taken from quote sites including AtoZ Quotes, BrainyQuotes, GoodReads, and WikiQuotes.
Above image of Sarah Chang photographed by Seihon Cho, courtesy of sarahchang.com
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