MINDY PETERSON, NCTM

Photo by Jeremy Beck on Unsplash

What do ancient philosophers, modern scientists, and rock stars have in common? A reverence for music. Music has a way of expressing what words alone can’t. Discover 10 quotes that say what words alone never could.

I’m Mindy Peterson, host of Enhance Life with Music podcast, where we explore the ways music can make our lives better. And this is Microhance, a micro-dose of musical enhancement.

Words matter. Words are powerful. Sometimes a single sentence can distill a concept to its essence, and this potency has the power to spark new ideas, reframe our perspective, clarify our purpose, or even change a life’s trajectory. Quotes are a kind of shorthand for wisdom – inspiration compressed into bite-sized clarity. The minimalist in me thrills to come across those perfectly worded lines that say so much in so few words.

Some people collect magnets or coffee mugs. I collect quotes. I find them in books, articles, emails, interviews. I especially treasure the ones that intersect with music and its impact.

Today, I’m sharing my top 10 favorite music-related quotes with you – an encapsulation of what music has meant to poets, philosophers, scientists, and artists across centuries.

First of all, some general quotes:

1. “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” – Victor Hugo
2. “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” – Plato
3. “Nothing on earth is so well suited to make the sad merry, the merry sad, to give courage to the despairing, to make proud the humble, to lessen envy and hate, as music.” – Martin Luther
4. “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso
5. On Education (yes, I’m squeezing in two quotes here!):
   • “Music has a power of forming the character and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young.” – Aristotle
   • “I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.” – Plato
6. My favorite quote on music and spirituality surprisingly comes from Kelsey Grammer: “Prayer is when you talk to God. Meditation is when you’re listening. Playing the piano allows you to do both at the same time.” – Kelsey Grammer
7. On changing the world: “Music can change the world because it can change people.” – Bono
8. On NOT (directly, anyway) changing the world: “So while our art cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, or death, it can revitalize us amidst it all.” – Ray Bradbury (in Zen in the Art of Writing)
9. Music has been called social glue. On this topic, Sarah Dessen has said: “Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common.” – Sarah Dessen
10. And a final quote on perspective: “I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.” – William James

I’ll include these quotes, and some others, in the show notes.

Quotes like these remind us that music isn’t a luxury — it’s a vital part of what makes us human. This is the power of music – not just to express, but to heal, to connect, and to elevate the everyday into something meaningful.

If you have a favorite quote about music, I’d love to hear it.

You can always connect with me on email (mindy@mpetersonmusic.com), Facebook, Instagram, X, or LinkedIn.

I’m Mindy Peterson, and I hope this inspires you to enhance your life with music.

Bonus: MORE of my favorite music quotes!

1. “Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.” – Jean-Michel Basquiat
2. “Music is one of the most powerful stimulants of the brain and the earliest forms of healing across the globe have always included sound.” – Dr. AZA Allsop
3. “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” – C. S. Lewis
4. “Creativity is intelligence having fun!” – Albert Einstein
5. “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” – Confucius
6. Making music is arguably one of the best ways to foster cognitive strengths such as attention, working memory, and creativity. – Nina Kraus, Of Sound Mind
7. Music is an undertapped resource with enormous potential for growth in health care… Making music changes the sound mind for the better. Speaking as a scientist, music should be taken seriously in education and medicine. – Nina Kraus, Of Sound Mind
8. “Without music, life would be a mistake.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
9. “Music is almost always social… And music can be powerful social glue, bringing people together in rituals, ceremonies, marches, protests, concerts, and more.” – Indre Viskontas, How Music Can Make You Better
10. “I listen to music in the background, just to keep my energy up. But my most profound experiences come when I’m paying close attention, searching and finding those hidden jewels. And when those discoveries help me understand an experience, like losing my dad, or meeting my son for the first time, in ways that mere words fall short of, I feel a kind of euphoria that defines, for me, what it means to be alive.” – Indre Viskontas, How Music Can Make You Better
11. “I found that the best engineers, the bright ones, the really creative artists that can create an entirely new product category at Apple, they ALWAYS had a strong music background.” – Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder of Apple
12. “[T]he pursuit of excellence in music is a Trojan Horse; a vessel for the development of lifelong learning skills – persistence, critical thinking, discipline, and communication, just to name a few.” – Lauren Haley, Kids Aren’t Lazy
13. “You can play music forever. It’s not like playing baseball.” – Mick Jagger [A recent study found that the average career of a major league ballplayer is only 5.6 years.]
14. “I’ve often been asked how baseball has influenced my life in music. I think it was actually the other way around: music influenced how I played baseball… If I was resilient and determined in my practicing [the guitar], I would progress and be able to play the music I really wanted to play. I also learned that I could easily transfer the discipline and focus of practicing my guitar to sports – or anything else. When you’re seven years old and realize that the musical instrument you’re holding in your hands empowers you to do whatever you want in life, it’s a breakthrough moment.” – Bernie Williams (New York Yankee 1991-2006), Rhythms of the Game
15. “Music touches feelings that words cannot.  Music has the power to reach directly into the soul of everyone who participates in this experience.  It is inspired by feelings and has the power to communicate the emotions better, perhaps, than any other form of communication.  It is truly the international language that needs no translation.” – Barry Green, The Mastery of Music
16. “Where words fail, music speaks.” – Hans Christian Andersen
17. “Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education.” – Plato

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