Yanni Quotes

I love the road, and I love coming in contact with the fans. They talk to me and that's irreplaceable. But when I get tired, I head to the studio and I am in there for a long time.

And going into my studio at night, particularly at night when everybody's asleep, is just a total pleasure for me.

Sometimes the knowledge you've been given in school or by an elder - 'this is just the way it is' - keeps you from accomplishing because it traps you in a box in your mind and limits your freedom to deliver.

I dread naming pieces of music because being instrumental, most of the time the songs that I write are instrumental, I want the listener to make up their own story as to what it is and get the emotion pure without using logic.

Music is art, and once you become an artist, you need to learn how to accept criticism.

I know that our world is going through a very difficult time right now, but I will never lose my faith in humanity, and our incredible ability to overcome just about anything.

When you do music concerts at Taj Mahal and the Acropolis, you have to be careful about your performance being appropriate with the place that surrounds you. It has to be appropriate to the culture - it should fit the building behind you, the environment you are playing it in and the culture of that place.

I've always lived in the moment.

It has never been necessary for me to learn how to read music.

Being happy with less is what makes a great human being, not a big house with marble floors, or everyone knowing who you are.

I do listen to a lot of music, but I don't listen when I'm writing.

While most of the music I write is instrumental, I love to use the human voice as another instrument.

The greatest things in life - truth, creativity, imagination, love, kindness, compassion -are already inside us, and they're all free.

I just would use any instrument known to man in any combination as long as it describes an emotion.

I truly believe greatness is in all of us. Don't let anyone talk us out of our truth.

Being an athlete helps me get those grandiose emotions of pleasure and pain that are involved in sports.

I don't really like to explain my songs.

You do good work for a long-enough time, I believed, and you'd get noticed.

I'd decided to take the risk, and either I'd succeed or else.

When you hear 'Truth of Touch,' I believe you recognize that it is me; however it's not the typical Yanni album.

My new question was, What do you do when your dreams come true? My answer was: Find new ones.

Creativity is an inherent human quality of the highest order. When we create, we become more than the sum of our parts.

Whether a person is spiritual or not, we all seek to get away from the stress, anger, and anxiety of everyday life. Some people drink, do drugs, or do worse to escape, and they hurt themselves in the process. Some people listen to music, mine included, and feel better.

You need a mind open to possibility, conditioned to love the creative spirit we all have inside ourselves.

Truth is the number one element in whatever you do with music.

Everything great that has ever happened to humanity has begun as a single thought in someone's mind, and if anyone of us is capable of such a thought, then all of us has the same capacity, capability, because we're all the same.

I tend to avoid writing music about initial reactions to situations, like frustration or anger. I'd rather wait till I go through the problem, and write about the learning that took place.

Not being able to read and write music is not the same as being illiterate in speech and writing.

When it comes down to music, I have no balance. I am 100 percent. It is like full throttle. Five hundred miles an hour.

The most important battle is one to conquer yourself.

You have to give up some of the old so that you can make room for the new.

The less you want, the richer you are. The more you need in order to be happy, the more miserable you'll be.

My music is based on melody and when I play the piano, it's as if I'm singing with them. When you try to transform that into a vocal, there was very little adjustment.

I don't dwell in the past; I don't wallow in old events and emotions. I don't waste time on regret. No use going over and over the details of what already happened.

Focused will is incredible. If you have a dream and you don't give up no matter what obstacles come up, then life's problems will fall away and you will get what you want. It happens. It works.

It's like flight, you're flying ... When you're hitting something that's turning you on, you get goose bumps. It's a rush. It's very exciting and that's what I'm hoping to do to the audience.

I'm an optimist by choice not by stupidity.

Maybe we didn't have many possessions, but we never went hungry, were cold, or lacked love.

I really and truly believe that music represents humanity's soul.

I am so happy that I didn't go to school and I didn't have anyone to tell me how to position my fingers on the piano correctly. And what you do with music and what is the correct way to write it and what is not the correct way to write it.

A little bit of fear means you are doing something worth doing
you are stretching ... You are going outside your immediate grasp.

All you need is passion. If you have a passion for something, you'll create the talent.