The kingdom of music is not the kingdom of this world; it will accept those whom breeding and intellect and culture have alike rejected. The commonplace person begins to play, and shoots into the empyrean without effort, whilst we look up, marvelling how he has escaped us, and thinking how we could worship him and love him, would he but translate his visions into human words, and his experiences into human actions. Perhaps he cannot; certainly he does not, or does so very seldom. E.m. Forster
About This Quote

In this quote, Johann Sebastian Bach was speaking of the power of music to transcend the mundane world. A person who plays music well is very talented and can be extremely successful in life. However, instead of being defined by their talent and success, they are often seen as lesser people because they have chosen to pursue a different path.

Source: A Room With A View

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More Quotes By E.m. Forster
  1. It isn't possible to love and part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal.

  2. This desire to govern a woman -- it lies very deep, and men and women must fight it together.... But I do love you surely in a better way then he does." He thought. "Yes -- really in a better way. I want you to...

  3. We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won't do harm - yes, choose a place where you won't do very...

  4. The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death.

  5. Life' wrote a friend of mine, 'is a public performance on the violin, in which you must learn the instrument as you go along.

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