As a child, you respond physically, tactically. You're delighted by sound, you're delighted by recognizing something. It's like hide and seek. Is it there? Is it not there? Is it this note? Is it not this note? It's one fantastic game.
Yo-Yo MaRead
After reaching 50, I began to wonder what the root of life is.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects a deeper contemplation on the essence and purpose of life as one ages.
In this quote, Yo-Yo Ma expresses a common introspection that occurs in later life, where individuals start to question the fundamental reasons for their existence and the meaning of their experiences. Reaching the age of 50 often prompts a reflective journey about lifeβs purpose, achievements, and the legacy one wishes to leave, leading to a search for understanding the root or essence of life itself.
Themes
LifeMeaningIntrospectionPurposeReflection
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech to encourage young adults to seek their own purpose in life.
More from Yo-Yo Ma
All quotes βThere's a part of me that's always charging ahead. I'm the curious kid, always going to the edge.
Yo-Yo MaRead
I think that peace is, in many ways, a precondition of joy.
Yo-Yo MaRead
I think anybody who goes away finds you appreciate home more when you return.
Yo-Yo MaRead
When we enlarge our view of the world, we deepen our understanding of our own lives.
Yo-Yo MaRead
I learn something not because I have to, but because I really want to. That's the same view I have for performing. I'm performing because I really want to, not because I have to bring bread back home.
Yo-Yo MaRead
Similar quotes
Hypocrisy means deliberately pretending. None of us lives up to his ideals; none of us is all that he would like to be or all that he could be in Christ. But that is not hypocrisy. Falling short of our ideals is not hypocrisy. Pretending we have reached our ideals when we have not - that is hypocrisy.
Warren W. WiersbeRead
The universe began as an enormous breath being held. I am glad that it did... until this great exhalation is finished, my thoughts live on.
Ted ChiangRead
I slide my arm from under the sleeper's head and it is numb, full of swarming pins, on the tip of each, waiting to be counted, the fallen angels sit.
Wislawa SzymborskaRead
When a human kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice. Man prays for mercy, but is unwilling to extend it to others. Why should man then expect mercy from God? It's unfair to expect something that you are not willing to give.
Isaac Bashevis SingerRead
Death cannot be struggled against, brother. It ever arrives, defiant of every hiding place, of every frantic attempt to escape. Death is every mortal's shadow, his true shadow, and time is its servant, spinning that shadow slowly round, until what stretched behind one now stretches before him.
Steven EriksonRead
Iβve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions.
Warren BuffettRead