Ignacy Jan Paderewski Quotes

I'm not part of the history, I am the history.

I want to write for history, not for the moment.

If something becomes old-fashioned, it was no good to start with. Think about it. Michelangelo is not old-fashioned.

The historical importance of a composer does not always go hand in hand with the quality of their work.

I don't look at myself as a historical icon, but the reality of it is, yeah, I am playing for history now.

You learn history in school, and you have a reverential feeling toward it. But by being irreverent, it feels current.

I want to affect culture. I want to have my mark on everything. I give examples of people like Bill Cosby, Quincy Jones - those are the people who I look up to. The game wouldn't be the same without them. What happens in the course of 5 years isn't really important to me. I care about what they'll say about me in 50 years.

How do you rate works of genius? Partly by personal inclination, partly by accepted wisdom, partly by popularity.

I sensed that Confucius is an interesting character. This is someone who lived over 2,500 years ago and is still speaking to us. That people are still reading and repeating what he said so long ago is something I find quite fascinating.

It may not be art, but it is history.

History is too serious to be left to historians.

It would be well if, in studying the past, we could always bear in mind the problems of the present

There is a difference between remembrance of history and reverence of it.

George's contribution to the great archive of contemporary music rests alongside the immortals. His is a legacy of unquestionable brilliance and one which will continue to shine and resonate for generations to come.

History belongs above all to the man...who needs models, teachers, comforters and cannot find them among his contemporaries.

A Century of Wisdom is universal and will enrich readers for generations to come.

I always wanted to be historical, from almost a baby on, I felt that way about it.

I have no expectation that any man will read history aright who thinks that what was done in a remote age, by men whose names have resounded far, has any deeper sense than what he is doing today.

It would be nice if I was remembered at all. I don't really care about being remembered. I just want to enjoy my life today and do my best while I'm here. I'm not that ambitious, other than to have a good life now.

No artist knows in his own lifetime whether what he does will be the slightest good, because it takes at least seventy-five to a hundred years before the thing begins to sort itself out.

People want to be successful, and they want to be acknowledged for what they do. Sometimes they make really great art and aren't. Historically, the best artists weren't. But their work survived.

A person's shadow stood for his legacy, his impact on the world. Some people cast hardly any shadow at all. Some cast long, deep shadows that endured for centuries.

History dies without the present. There is no future without the path made to it by the past.

We are not being true to the artist as a man if we consider his art work junk simply because we differ with his outlook on life. Christian schools, Christian parents, and Christian pastors often have turned off young people at just this point. Because the schools, the pastors, and the parents did not make a distinction between technical excellence and content, the whole of much great art has been rejected with scorn and ridicule. Instead, if the artist's technical excellence is high, he is to be praised for this, even if we differ with his world view. Man must be treated fairly as man.