Joshua Bell Quotes

You’re a constant student, as a musician.

You only live once, so I try to say yes to everything.

You don’t have to have lots of love affairs to know what love is.

When you play for ticket-holders, you are already validated. I have no sense that I need to be accepted. I’m already accepted.

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.

We live in the least ugly time in history.

There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing a conductor say, ‘Play softer,’ as they’re waving their hands in huge gestures.

The man on the street, he knows who Beethoven is, he knows who Mozart is.

The best way to refine an interpretation is by getting out and performing.

So much of performing is a mind game.

Over the years, I’ve collected a lot of musical friends.

No one tells you what to do if you completely flop at the beginning of a performance.

I’m in a position where, theoretically, I could play the same ten concertos and make a very good living bouncing around playing Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Barber, but I really think artists should keep pushing limits and trying new things.

In art and music, particularly in the 20th century, there was a big period there where for something to be called profound you had to not be able to understand it.

I write arrangements. I’m sort of a wannabe composer.

I was lucky enough to have parents who started me on music very early, but most kids don’t get that kind of exposure.

I want to do everything. That’s my problem.

I use Facebook quite a lot to keep up with my friends, although I had to delete ‘Words With Friends’ from my phone because it was wasting too much of my time.