Hilary Hahn Quotes

To be called a genius at 17 or 18 years old can sometimes cause arrested development.

Mozart was very much an arrested adolescent.

The next time a former child star is in the news, look at the age at which he or she started performing. Then imagine making a life-changing decision at that age. Chances are good he or she wasn't the one who made it.

At times, I feel sorry for kids who have succumbed in some kind of way to being a child actor.

When I came to the United States, I appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show as a 13-year-old, and I played a Mendelssohn Concerto, and it sounded like a talented 13-year-old with a lot of promise. But it did not sound like a finished product.

When Mother put me out on stage at eight years old, everyone wanted me to be just like Daddy.

You could be a music prodigy at age 4, like Mozart, but you can't be a writing prodigy.

I think it's child abuse to have someone in the public eye too young. Society basically values wealth and fame and power at the cost of well-being. In the case of a child, it's at the cost of someone's natural development. It's already hard enough to develop.

It's normally the kiss of death to be identified as a rising star, or someone to watch.

There's this Bruno Mars guy. I met him in Hawaii when was doing Elvis imitations at the age of about five or six years old. There's a lot of old school in him. He's got a depth that I just love.

I really feel like it's a travesty to make a child famous. I really do.

Genius is a word too often tossed around in musical circles.

Everybody hates a prodigy, detests an old head on young shoulders.

My mother was the worst kind of stage mother. She would make me and my younger sister and brother little duckling costumes and put us in kiddie shows.

To be perfectly honest, it isn't fair that people have used my personality, and the sacrifices I make because I want to, as an indication that I want to be in a political office.

When I look at my kids, and the ease with which they pick up music, I wish I had that.

It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.

Well, Mozart is extraordinary not only in that he became virtuoso along the lines of his father, but that he had that compositional gift, that melodic gift. By the time he was four, he was doing piano concertos with harmony in the background.

I don't like kids that are pushed into things by stage mums, but when I can see they are having a good time, they're excited and enjoying the process, then I think it's wrong to discriminate.

My son now is 22 months old, he's been playing since he was 12 months old and he gets standing ovations on the drums. He's been with us since he was 10 weeks old, he's been on the drums. He's got blisters on his fingers before he can even talk.

He was using me. When he cast me in Sideways I was nothing but a vessel.

Child prodigy is a curse because you've got all those terrible possibilities.

Is there anything worse than being called the 'It Girl?' By definition, there will be a new one in two weeks.

I met the Santana band when I was 14. By the time I was 15, I was a member of the band.

I started playing the violin at age 3, and I was very fortunate because there were people who heard me who were influential in getting me auditions. By the time I was 7, I was playing concerts - it was just ridiculous.