The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto Quotes

“I [Music] was born in the open air, in the breaks of waves and the whistling of sandstorms, the hoots of owls and the cackles of tui birds. I travel in echoes. I ride the breeze. I was forged in nature, rugged and raw. Only man shapes my edges to make me beautiful. [Chapter 2]”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Silence enhances music. What you do not play can sweeten what you do. But it is not the same with words. What you do not say can haunt you.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“some things you endure for a reason”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Remember this, Francisco,” he said. “The secret is not to make your music louder, but to make the world quieter.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“You will never know all there is to know. You will learn until your final days. Then you will inspire someone else. This is what an artist does.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“intentions. That’s important in music, too. Critically important. What you’re thinking about can be what you become.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Why humans kill each other is beyond my comprehension, but I can testify that you have been doing it since your inception. Only the weapons change.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“He died at forty-two.

I was there to collect his talent.

I was there at the hospital deathbed of my beloved Billie Holiday, just forty-four, her liver destroyed by drinking; I was there inside the hotel room of Charlie Parker, my singular jazz saxophonist, who died in his midthirties, but whose body was so ravaged by drugs the coroners thought he was sixty.

Tommy Dorsey, the bandleader, choked in his sleep when he was fifty-one, too deep in pills to awaken. Johnny Allen Hendrix (you called him Jimi) swallowed a handful of barbiturates and expired. He was twenty-seven.

It is not new, this idea that a purer art awaits you in a substance. But it is naive. I existed before the first grapes were fermented. Before the first whiskey was distilled. Be it opium or absinthe, marijuana or heroin, cocaine or ecstasy or whatever will follow, you may alter your state, but you will not alter this truth: I am Music. I am here inside you. Why would I hide behind a powder or a vapor?

Do you think me so petty?”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Sunflowers waiting for the sunshine. Violets just waiting for dew. Bees just waiting for honey And honey, I’m just waiting for you!”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Do not cry over losing blood. Not for something you love.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“You’re never in love with anyone the way you are when you’re eighteen, on a beach, at night, with your shoes off. I still can’t believe he’s gone.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“will share a secret: this is how talents are bestowed. Before newborns open their eyes, we circle them, appearing as brilliant colors, and when they clench their tiny hands for the first time, they are actually grabbing the colors they find most appealing. Those talents are with them for life. The lucky ones (well, in my opinion, the lucky ones) choose me. Music.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“One must indeed test the strings to this life, bounce the bow, wet the mouthpiece, prepare for the deeper music that follows.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Music is in the connection of human souls, speaking a language that needs no words.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“For centuries, musicians have sought to find me at the end of a needle or the bottom of a drink. It is an illusion. And it often ends badly. Take”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Why do the strings make different sounds, Maestro?” “It is simple. They work like life.” “I don’t understand.” “The first string is E. It is high pitched and quick like a child. “The second string is B. It is pitched slightly lower, like the squeaky voice of a teenager. “The third string, G, is deeper, with the power of a young man. “The fourth string, D, is robust, a man at full strength. “The fifth string, A, is solid and loud but unable to reach high tones, like a man who can no longer do what he did.” “And the sixth string, Maestro?” “The sixth is the low E, the thickest, slowest, and grumpiest. You hear how deep? Dum-dum-dum. Like it is ready to die.” “Is that because it is closest to heaven?” “No, Francisco. It is because life will always drag you to the bottom.” Frankie”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Over time, I guess all your teachers find their way into your music, right?”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Everyone joins a band in this life. One way or another, the band breaks up.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“You humans are always locking each other away. Cells. Dungeons. Some of your earliest jails were sewers, where men sloshed in their own waste. No other creature has this arrogance—to confine its own. Could you imagine a bird imprisoning another bird? A horse jailing a horse?”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“All lonely roads lead back to music. I embrace you. I forgive you. I will never leave you.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“There are songs that you play that you have to restart, and songs that you play that you never get right. But when a song is complete, there is no more you can do.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“What would you give to remember everything? I have this power. I absorb your memories; when you hear me, you relive them. A first dance. A wedding. The song that played when you got the big news. No other talent gives your life a soundtrack. I am Music. I mark time.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“I know this sound; silence is part of music. But just because something is silent doesn’t mean you aren’t hearing it.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“I am not one of the “slower” talents, like Reason or Mathematics. I am Music. If I bless you singing, you can do so from your first attempt.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Here is what I know of love. It changes the way you treat me. I feel it in your hands. Your fingers. Your compositions. The sudden rush of peppy phrases, major sevenths, melody lines that resolve neatly and sweetly, like a valentine tucked in an envelope. Humans grow dizzy from new affection, and young Frankie was already dizzy when he and the mysterious girl descended from that tree.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“And, as is usually the fate with bands, most of them will break up—through distance, differences, divorce, or death.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“But daughters have their own lives. You can’t smother them. She’ll get married. Have children.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Public taste is as fickle as a child’s attention span”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“You should never construct a lie based on a child’s questions. It is like writing music based on cymbal crashes.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“You will never know all there is to know. You will learn until your final days.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto