“Wagner's music is better than it sounds.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Actually by Bill Nye, possibly confused due to Nye quoting Twain in More Tramps Abroad, 1897. (See also autobiography, vol. 1, p. 288.)
Misattributed
1900s, Address at the Prize Day Exercises at Groton School (1904)
Context: Remember that in life, and above all in the very active, practical, workaday life on this continent, the man who wins out must be the man who works. He can not play all the time. He can not have play as his principal occupation and win out. Let him play; let him have as good a time as he can have. I have a pity that is akin to contempt for the man who does not have as good a time as he can out of life. But let him work. Let him count in the world. When he comes to the end of his life let him feel he has pulled his weight and a little more. A sound body is good; a sound mind is better; but a strong and clean character is better than either.
“Wagner's music is better than it sounds.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Actually by Bill Nye, possibly confused due to Nye quoting Twain in More Tramps Abroad, 1897. (See also autobiography, vol. 1, p. 288.)
Misattributed
“A sound body keeps a sound mind.”
Joe Frazier (1944–2011) American boxer
Wise words from Frazier. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/sports/othersports/18frazier.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5090&en=a3509c26258f5380&ex=1318824000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
“You should pray for a sound mind in a sound body.”
Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.
X, line 356; see mens sana in corpore sano.
Variant translation: One should pray to have a sound mind in a sound body.
Satires, Satire X
“The peculiar characteristic of classical music is that it is really better than it sounds.”
Edgar Wilson Nye (1850–1896) American journalist, who later became widely known as a humorist
A stand-up line quoted in 1888.
Attributed
Variant: Wagner's music is better than it sounds (attested in an obituary; see The Quote Verifier)
Ivor Tiefenbrun (1946) Scottish businessman
"A Wee Dram of Scotch: Linn Products' Ivor Tiefenbrun" http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/457/, published in Stereophile, 25 October 1994. <br class="br">1994
Charles Rosen (1927–2012) American pianist and writer on music
Source: Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist (2002), Ch. 1 Body and Mind
“My songs always sound a lot better in person than they do on the record.”
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
The Rolling Stone Interview: Bob Dylan http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-talks-a-raw-and-extensive-first-rolling-stone-interview-19691129 (29 November 1969)
“A sound mind in a sound body, is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.”
John Locke book Some Thoughts Concerning Education
Sec. 1
Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)
“I wanted to find out why Shelley could write better-sounding poetry than I.”
Peter Ladefoged (1925–2006) British phonetician
Los Angeles Times (1970); on why he chose to pursue phonetics.
“[F]orgive me if this sounds pompous, but it’s better to die standing up than live on your knees.”
Alexey Navalny (1976) Russian anti-corruption activist
Source: As quoted in "Net Impact: One man's cyber-crusade against Russian corruption" http://archive.is/FGqQE (4 April 2011), by Julia Ioffe, The New Yorker