Top 38 Heifetz Quotes
#1. The zenith of virtuosity, a violinist like Jascha Heifetz, the supernatural in a pianist like Vladimir Horowitz, these are performers who were so idiosyncratic and personal that to imitate them would be like filling somebody else's bottle with your wine.
David Finckel
#2. I occasionally play works by contemporary composers and for two reasons. First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven.
Jascha Heifetz
#3. If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.
Jascha Heifetz
#4. If you find what you do each day seems to have no link to any higher purpose, you probably want to rethink what you're doing.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#5. Most people instinctively follow a dominant trend in an organization or community, without critical evaluation of its merits. The herd instinct is strong.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#6. Your inspiration taps hidden reserves of promise that sustain people through times that induce despair. You enable people to envision a future that sustains the best from their past while also holding out new possibilities.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#7. Practice like it means everything in the world to you. Perform like you don't give a damn.
Jascha Heifetz
#10. You cannot expect people to seriously consider your idea without accepting the possibility that they will challenge it. Accepting that process of engagement as the terrain of leadership liberates you personally.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#11. The activity of interpreting might be understood as listening for the 'song beneath the words.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#12. When people come to play music as they do to play bridge, civilization will have taken the longest stride forward since the beginning of time.
Jascha Heifetz
#13. Values are shaped and refined by rubbing against real problems, and people interpret their problems according to the values they hold.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#14. Progress on problems is the measure of leadership; leaders mobilize people to face problems, and communities make progress on problems because leaders challenge them and help them to do so.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#15. Exercising adaptive leadership is about giving meaning to your life beyond your own ambition.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#16. There is no top. There are always further heights to reach.
Jascha Heifetz
#17. When you lead people through difficult change, you take them on an emotional roller coaster because you are asking them to relinquish something - a belief, a value, a behavior - that they hold dear. People can stand only so much change at any one time.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#18. Knowing how the environment is pulling your strings and playing you is critical to making responsive rather than reactive moves.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#19. I have discovered three things which know no geographical borders - classical music, American jazz, and applause as the sign of the public's favor.
Jascha Heifetz
#21. Your silence creates a vacuum for others to fill The key is to stay present and keep listening. The silence of holding steady is different from the silence of holding back.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#22. Can you appreciate music without playing it? Yes, you can. You can appreciate baseball without playing it. Many people attend a football game merely for the crowd, the excitement, the color.
Jascha Heifetz
#23. And leadership then is about mobilizing and engaging the people with the problem rather than trying to anesthetize them so you can go off and solve it on your own.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#24. Conflict is the primary engine of creativity and innovation. People don't learn by staring into a mirror; people learn by encountering difference.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#26. Worry not that your child listens to you; worry most that they watch you.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#27. The discipline of practice every day is essential. When I skip a day, I notice a difference in my playing. After two days, the critics notice, and after three days, so does the audience.
Jascha Heifetz
#28. Mental health professionals have said for a long time that individuals cannot adapt well to too many life changes at once. If you suffer a loss in the family, change jobs, and move all within a short time, the chances are your own internal stability may break down, or show signs of serious strain.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#29. If the Almighty himself played the violin, the credits would still read 'Rubinstein, God, and Piatigorsky', in that order.
Jascha Heifetz
#30. Criticism does not disturb me, for I am my own severest critic. Always in my playing I strive to surpass myself, and it is this constant struggle that makes music fascinating to me.
Jascha Heifetz
#31. But to practice leadership, you need to accept that you are in the business of generating chaos, confusion, and conflict
Ronald A. Heifetz
#32. Exercising leadership is an expression of your aliveness ... But when you cover yourself up, you risk losing something as well. In the struggle to save yourself, you can give up too many of those qualities that are the essence of being alive, like innocence, curiosity, and compassion.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#33. No matter what side of an argument you're on, you always find some people on your side that wish you were on the other side.
Jascha Heifetz
#36. The improvisational ability to lead adaptively relies on responding to the present situation rather than importing the past into the present and laying it on the current situation like an imperfect template.
Ronald A. Heifetz
#37. He once told a reporter he wanted his obituary to be short - "just make it born in Russia, first lesson at 3, debut at 7, debut in America in 1917".
Jascha Heifetz
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