If they say they don't like the way I play Beethoven, then I can swallow that, and maybe they're right. But if they don't like what I've written, then it's about me.
Stephen HoughRead
All things of beauty can speak to us of God, and I'm very happy to listen to and be inspired by people of every religious background.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Beauty has a universal quality that connects us to the divine and inspires us through various religions.
In this quote, Stephen Hough reflects on the idea that beauty transcends individual beliefs and can be a source of spiritual connection. He appreciates the inspiration that can be drawn from the beauty found in diverse religious expressions, suggesting that art and beauty have the power to bridge divides and foster understanding among people of different faiths.
Themes
BeautyInspirationArtSpiritualityReligion
In practice
Example use cases
During a talk on the intersection of art and faith, one could use this quote to highlight beauty's role in spirituality.
More from Stephen Hough
All quotes →Unlike sport, music is not about winning or keeping fit or promoting your town or school; it's about celebrating, to a level approaching ecstasy, the deepest human longings.
Stephen HoughRead
Life is an incurable disease leading to death, but it's also an unrequested gift, which, if we can manage to keep giving it away to others, can keep giving back everything to us.
Stephen HoughRead
Live in the present moment. The past and future are nonexistent. Only the present can be grasped or, better, embraced.
Stephen HoughRead
In Britten or Berg, there's a tension between the sweet and the sour, between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the tonal and the atonal, the happy and the sad. That, to me, is what all western art is about - that tension. It's why we want to say anything at all.
Stephen HoughRead
There are artists who delight listeners with their wild and daring individuality; there are others who uncover the written score with reverence. There are few who can do both.
Stephen HoughRead
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Humans like stories. Humans need stories. Stories are good. Stories work. Story clarifies and captures the essence of the human spirit. Story, in all its forms—of life, of love, of knowledge—has traced the upward surge of mankind. And story, you mark my words, will be with the last human to draw breath.
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Acting is illusion, as much illusion as magic is - and not so much a matter of being real.
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There are those who write because they believe they have something so marvelous that it will make them famous and wealthy, a lauded commodity who will be invited to a lifetime of cocktail parties.
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Art is very tricky because it's what you do for yourself. It's much harder for me to make those works than the monuments or the architecture.
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