Quotes about performance
page 17

Dhyan Chand photo

“You and your boys have done wonderfully to foster the game of hockey in our country I hope that you will return to India with good impressions and with the same feeling of friendship to the German hockey players as we feel towards you…Tell them how much we all admired the sill and performance of the prefect hockey they have shown us.”

Dhyan Chand (1905–1979) Indian field hockey player

George Evers, President of the Deutsch Hockey Board and the International Hockey Federation after India won the Olympics at Berlin in a message to Dhyan Chand quoted in "India and the Olympics" in page=64

Ralph Waldo Emerson photo
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay photo
William Quan Judge photo
Muhammad Ali Jinnah photo
William Logan (author) photo
William Logan (author) photo
Ernesto Che Guevara photo
Ernesto Che Guevara photo
Rocco Siffredi photo
Vasyl Slipak photo
Vasyl Slipak photo
Vince Cable photo

“Growing inequality is linked to poor economic performance, greater instability, more social tension, insecurity and unhappiness.”

Vince Cable (1943) British Liberal Democrat politician

Vince Cable warns inherited wealth is fuelling inequality https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41168093, BBC News, 6 September 2017
2017

Leanne Wood photo

“First minister, last night you participated in the first major public debate on the future for Wales within the European Union. You went head-to-head with the voice of the far right. Do you think your performance helped or hindered the Welsh campaign on the EU?”

Leanne Wood (1971) Welsh Plaid Cymru politician

UKIP condemns Leanne Wood's 'far right' Farage jibe https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-35292163 BBC News (12 January 2016)
2016

Theodor Mommsen photo

“Few men have had their elasticity so thoroughly put to the proof as Caesar-- the sole creative genius produced by Rome, and the last produced by the ancient world, which accordingly moved on in the path that he marked out for it until its sun went down. Sprung from one of the oldest noble families of Latium--which traced back its lineage to the heroes of the Iliad and the kings of Rome, and in fact to the Venus-Aphrodite common to both nations--he spent the years of his boyhood and early manhood as the genteel youth of that epoch were wont to spend them. He had tasted the sweetness as well as the bitterness of the cup of fashionable life, had recited and declaimed, had practised literature and made verses in his idle hours, had prosecuted love-intrigues of every sort, and got himself initiated into all the mysteries of shaving, curls, and ruffles pertaining to the toilette-wisdom of the day, as well as into the still more mysterious art of always borrowing and never paying. But the flexible steel of that nature was proof against even these dissipated and flighty courses; Caesar retained both his bodily vigour and his elasticity of mind and of heart unimpaired. In fencing and in riding he was a match for any of his soldiers, and his swimming saved his life at Alexandria; the incredible rapidity of his journeys, which usually for the sake of gaining time were performed by night--a thorough contrast to the procession-like slowness with which Pompeius moved from one place to another-- was the astonishment of his contemporaries and not the least among the causes of his success. The mind was like the body. His remarkable power of intuition revealed itself in the precision and practicability of all his arrangements, even where he gave orders without having seen with his own eyes. His memory was matchless, and it was easy for him to carry on several occupations simultaneously with equal self-possession. Although a gentleman, a man of genius, and a monarch, he had still a heart. So long as he lived, he cherished the purest veneration for his worthy mother Aurelia (his father having died early); to his wives and above all to his daughter Julia he devoted an honourable affection, which was not without reflex influence even on political affairs. With the ablest and most excellent men of his time, of high and of humbler rank, he maintained noble relations of mutual fidelity, with each after his kind. As he himself never abandoned any of his partisans after the pusillanimous and unfeeling manner of Pompeius, but adhered to his friends--and that not merely from calculation--through good and bad times without wavering, several of these, such as Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Matius, gave, even after his death, noble testimonies of their attachment to him.”

Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist and writer

Vol.4. Part 2.
The History of Rome - Volume 4: Part 2

“I was totally star-struck as a youngster and incredibly shy, but I loved the theatre – especially pantomimes. After a failed audition for RADA, I worked as a trainee fashion buyer at Harrods, where they had an entertainments society and I performed in several of its productions. I took singing lessons and my teacher encouraged me to read The Stage, where I saw that chorus singers were needed for the musical The Belle Of New York.”

Valerie Leon (1943) English actress

I got the job – much to my parents’ horror, who wanted me to keep my respectable job, but I was determined to become an actress.
Whatever happened to Bond Girl Valerie Leon? http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/614933/Bond-Girl-Valerie-Leon-career-life (November 2, 2015)

Aisha photo
Bill Nye photo

“If you could invent a better battery, one that can store more energy using less exotic metal, one that could handle the heat without loss of performance or just plain catching on fire, we could store energy from the wind and the Sun and have it available whenever we need it. You would change the world all right. You might also get rich – crazy rich!”

Bill Nye (1955) American science educator, comedian, television host, actor, writer, scientist and former mechanical engineer

[NewsBank, Bill Nye challenges grads to 'change the world', The Eagle Tribune, Lawrence, Massachusetts, May 18, 2014]

Joseph Strutt photo
B.K.S. Iyengar photo
Shankar Dayal Sharma photo
M. Balamuralikrishna photo

“Samuel Hartlib, a celebrated writer on husbandry in the last century, a gentleman much beloved and esteemed by Milton, in his preface to the work, commonly called his Legacy, laments greatly that no public director of husbandry was established in England By Authority; and that we had not adopted the Flemish custom of letting farms upon improvement… Cromwell, in consequence of this admirable performance, allowed Hartlib a pension of 100l.”

Walter Harte (1709–1774) poet and historian

a year ; and Hartlib afterwards, the better to fulfil the intentions of his benefactor, procured Dr. Beati's excellent annotations on the Legacy, with other valuable pieces from bis numerous correspondents.
Source: Essays on Husbandry (1764), p. 3.

“Samuel Hartlib, a celebrated writer on husbandry in the last century, a gentleman much beloved and esteemed by Milton, in his preface to the work, commonly called his Legacy, laments greatly that no public director of husbandry was established in England By Authority; and that we had not adopted the Flemish custom of letting farms upon improvement… Cromwell, in consequence of this admirable performance, allowed Hartlib a pension of 100l.”

Samuel Hartlib (1600–1662) German-British polymath

a year ; and Hartlib afterwards, the better to fulfil the intentions of his benefactor, procured Dr. Beati's excellent annotations on the Legacy, with other valuable pieces from bis numerous correspondents.
Walter Harte. Essays on Husbandry (1764), p. 3.

Gangubai Hangal photo

“Gangubai included in her performances such lighter genres as Marathi bhajans, and thumris.”

Gangubai Hangal (1913–2009) Indian singer

Bonnie C. Wade, in }Khyāl: Creativity Within North India's Classical Music".

Waheeda Rehman photo
Hema Malini photo

“It has been more than three decades but Hema Malini’s passion for dance has not diminished. Starting in the early 70s with solo Bhratanatyam performances, the diva has reinvented herself at every stage of her career. When she felt that the pure classical dance form would not be appreciated by a less aware audience, she expanded her art form to include ballets.”

Hema Malini (1948) Indian actress, dancer and politician

Writer Bhawana Somaaya in [Bhawana Somaaya, Fragmented Frames: Reflections of a Critic, http://books.google.com/books?id=HQ3Yi9VPU8QC&pg=PP201, 1 January 2008, Pustak Mahal, 978-81-223-1016-0, 201–]

Gerrit Blaauw photo
Russell L. Ackoff photo
Rajinikanth photo
Rufus Wainwright photo
Walter Model photo
Luise Rainer photo
Sai Baba of Shirdi photo

“More over, Sai Baba was a celibate, remaining in one place, performing miracles, admonishing his disciples, and keeping a fire perpetually burning at Shirdi. The functions of a Guru, ascetic and saint, Sai Baba adds that of Avatar as many of his devotees and followers consider him as major incarnation of this age.”

Sai Baba of Shirdi (1836–1918) Hindu and muslim saint

Stated by Charles S.J.White.[Sinha, K.N., Sai Baba: A Ray from the Supreme, http://books.google.com/books?id=o7A_TxQzx8kC&pg=PA80, 1 January 1997, Abhinav Publications, 978-81-7017-349-6, 80–]

Marcel Duchamp photo
Rani Mukerji photo
Ansel Adams photo

“Yes, in the sense that the negative is like the composer’s score. Then, using that musical analogy, the print is the performance.”

Ansel Adams (1902–1984) American photographer and environmentalist

Paraphrased as "Film is the score and the print is the performance."
Sheff
David
May 1983
Playboy
http://davidsheff.com/article/ansel-adams/
Playboy Interview: Ansel Adams
226

Ali Khamenei photo
Koichi Tohei photo
Roger Federer photo

“I had a taste of what the best is tonight and I think Roger has that extra gear. He has good volleys and he has this little backhand flick that honestly, I have never seen before… it’s something that I didn’t have. I am happy with my performance tonight. I hung in there right until the end.”

Roger Federer (1981) Swiss tennis player

Pete Sampras, after playing his second exhibition match with Roger Federer, Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 22, 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/23/stories/2007112362882100.htm

Heinrich Schenker photo

“It is improper, to expressly pursue the Urlinie in performance and to single out its tones…for the purpose of communicating the Urlinie to the listener.”

Heinrich Schenker (1868–1935) Austrian music theorist

Rather, "for the performer, the Urlinie provides, first of all, a sense of direction. It serves a somewhat equivalent function to that which a road map serves for a mountain climber.
Das Meisterwerk I, p. 196. Translated by Kalib, vol. 2, p. 147. Quoted in Burkhart, Charles (1983). "Schenker's Theory of Levels and Musical Performance", Aspects of Schenkerian Theory, Beach David, ed. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Andrew Dickson White photo
Vincent Van Gogh photo

“If only we try to live sincerely, it will go well with us, even though we are certain to experience real sorrow, and great disappointments, and also will probably commit great faults and do wrong things, but it certainly is true, that it is better to be high-spirited, even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is well done.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Quote of Vincent's letter to Theo, from Amsterdam, 3 April 1878; a cited in The Letters of Vincent van Gogh to his Brother, 1872-1886 (1927) Constable & Co
As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul : Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 483
1870s
Variant: Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

Jane Austen photo
Johannes Kepler photo
Angelique Rockas photo

“The first performance the company staged was Ford`s '`Tis Pity Shes a Whore.'”

Angelique Rockas South African actress and founder of Internationalist Theatre, London

It was well received. I like to choose the play, the directors, the designers.. it`s a total creative act.
On the production of Ford`s Tis Pity She`s A Whore`
TA NEA (London) Interview (June 1983)

Dana Arnold photo
John Allen Paulos photo
Marilyn Ferguson photo
Edward III of England photo
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve photo

“For the soul arrives therebye at a certain fixed and invincible state, a state which is genuinely heroic, and from out of which the greatest deeds it ever performs are executed.”

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804–1869) French literary critic

On “the phenomenon of grace.”

As quoted by william james in Varieties of Religious Experience Lecture 11, paragraph 3.

Dotsie Bausch photo
Richard D. Wolff photo
William Cobbett photo
Enheduanna photo

“Her great heart performs her bidding.”

Enheduanna Sumerian priestess and poet

About Inanna, Lines 49-59.
A Hymn to Inana (23rd century BCE)

Angelique Rockas photo

“I myself have experienced the volcanic existential depths of the Greek language. It was during a performance of Medea by Tzeni Karezi at the Herod Atticus theatre in Athens ,when she was pleading to the callous Jason to take pity on her and she used the word ' splachniasou.'”

Angelique Rockas South African actress and founder of Internationalist Theatre, London

'Pity' is too weak a word to describe the emotional and psychological depths ' splachniasou' expresses. 'Splachna 'is the part of the body where a woman carries her unborn children, the very root of ontological existence. How deep can you get!

On the Greek language
Interview on Helenism .net (September 2011)

Roberta Flack photo

“I sang it about soldiers, then, later, about gay men. It touches me deeply every time. I used to perform this song at Mr Henry’s and people would be totally silent. I knew it moved them.”

Roberta Flack (1937) American singer

On the song “Ballad of the Sad Young Men” in “Roberta Flack: 'My music is my expression of what I feel in a moment'” https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/21/roberta-flack-interview-music-grammys in The Guardian (2020 Jan 21)

Pelagius photo

“If you depart from evil but fail to do good, you transgress the law, which is fulfilled not simply by abominating evil deeds but also by performing good works’”

Pelagius (360–420) British monk

On Virginity 6.1

[Harrison, Carol, Truth in a Heresy?, The Expository Times, 2016, 112, 3, 78–82, 10.1177/001452460011200302]
On Virginity

Ulysses S. Grant photo
Joseph Addison photo

“Let echo, too, perform her part,
Prolonging every note with art;
And in a low expiring strain,
Play all the concert o'er again.”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1699), st. 4

Patañjali photo

“Perfection in asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached.”

Patañjali (-200–-150 BC) ancient Indian scholar(s) of grammar and linguistics, of yoga, of medical treatises

Patanjali, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 133.

Jaquira Díaz photo

“I was in a state of rage, also. I was so angry and I couldn't really explain why. I didn't have the language for it. And so I turned to what I knew, I remembered the kind of woman my mother had been — in a lot of ways, I was acting out, I was performing the same thing.”

Jaquira Díaz Puerto Rican writer

On becoming a juvenile delinquent in “In New Memoir 'Ordinary Girls,' Jaquira Díaz Searches For Home” https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774306278/jaquira-d-az-on-her-memoir-ordinary-girls in NPR (2019 Oct 29)

“I haven't performed for my fans in Tehran for nearly two years, and I miss you so much.”

Saman Jalili (1990) Iranian singer and composer

Quote
Source: بعد از دوسال دلم برایتان تنگ شده بود http://musicema.com/node/320557 موسیقی ما 13 مرداد 1396

Benjamin Zephaniah photo

“…Sometimes I’ll do these things for a couple of days then suddenly one day the poem comes out, just like that, in a couple of minutes. I might rewrite it later, a kind of fine tuning, or sometimes I’ll tell the audience it’s a new poem and just perform it to see if it works.”

Benjamin Zephaniah (1958) English poet and author

On his writing process in “Interview with Benjamin Zephaniah” https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/writers/advice/37/a-writers-toolkit/interviews-with-authors/interview-with-benjamin-zephaniah in Writers & Artists

“Spoken Word poetry is an art form that fits me well because it enables me to bring all the layers of who I am into one space — A reader, writer, and performer…”

On his preferred poetry style in “Prose Interviews London Poet Raymond Antrobus” https://medium.com/prose-matters/prose-interviews-london-poet-raymond-antrobus-c0e1fdf720b9 in Medium Magazine (2016 Mar 30)

Shelley Lubben photo

“Damaged little girls are exactly what the porn industry preys upon and depends upon. It is estimated that 90% of porn performers are sexual abuse survivors and the average age of a porn actress is 22.8 years old.”

Shelley Lubben (1968–2019) author, singer, motivational speaker, and former pornographic actress

Truth Behind the Fantasy of Porn: The Greatest Illusion on Earth (2010), Ch. II

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay photo
James K. Morrow photo
John F. Kennedy photo

“This Administration has been looking hard at exactly what civil defense can and cannot do. It cannot be obtained cheaply. It cannot give an assurance of blast protection that will be proof against surprise attack or guaranteed against obsolescence or destruction. And it cannot deter a nuclear attack. We will deter an enemy from making a nuclear attack only if our retaliatory power is so strong and so invulnerable that he knows he would be destroyed by our response. If we have that strength, civil defense is not needed to deter an attack. If we should ever lack it, civil defense would not be an adequate substitute. But this deterrent concept assumes rational calculations by rational men. And the history of this planet, and particularly the history of the 20th century, is sufficient to remind us of the possibilities of an irrational attack, a miscalculation, an accidental war, for a war of escalation in which the stakes by each side gradually increase to the point of maximum danger which cannot be either foreseen or deterred. It is on this basis that civil defense can be readily justifiable--as insurance for the civilian population in case of an enemy miscalculation. It is insurance we trust will never be needed--but insurance which we could never forgive ourselves for foregoing in the event of catastrophe. Once the validity of this concept is recognized, there is no point in delaying the initiation of a nation-wide long-range program of identifying present fallout shelter capacity and providing shelter in new and existing structures. Such a program would protect millions of people against the hazards of radioactive fallout in the event of large-scale nuclear attack. Effective performance of the entire program not only requires new legislative authority and more funds, but also sound organizational arrangements.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1961, Speech to Special Joint Session of Congress

Annie Besant photo
Carly Simon photo

“The time I enjoy music most is when it’s not a performance. It’s just trading instrumentals and finding that part in the song that you feel best singing.”

Carly Simon (1943) American singer-songwriter, musician and author

On how much she loves performing music with her family in “Carly Simon on Trolling Trump With ‘You’re So Vain,’ Lost Mick Jagger Duet” https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/carly-simon-on-trolling-trump-with-youre-so-vain-lost-mick-jagger-duet-118291/ in Rolling Stone (29 Nov 2016)

Thelma Schoonmaker photo

“You get to contribute so significantly in the editing room because you shape the movie and the performances," she says. "You help the director bring all the hard work of those who made the film to fruition. You give their work rhythm and pace and sometimes adjust the structure to make the film work – to make it start to flow up there on the screen. And then it's very rewarding after a year's work to see people react to what you've done in the theater.”

Thelma Schoonmaker (1940) American film editor

iVillage Entertainment, The Last Temptation of Thelma, Lan N., Nguyen, March 15, 2005, dead, https://web.archive.org/web/20061022085303/http://entertainment.ivillage.com/features/0,,7hghlrfw,00.html, October 22, 2006, mdy-all http://entertainment.ivillage.com/features/0,,7hghlrfw,00.html,

Carolina la O photo
Douglas Murray photo
Robert Smith (musician) photo
Michael J. Sandel photo
Chulpan Khamatova photo
Walter Cronkite photo

“We are not educated well enough to perform the necessary act of intelligently selecting our leaders.”

Walter Cronkite (1916–2009) American broadcast journalist

Free the Airwaves! (2002)

Christian Dior photo

“We were given a polished theatrical performance such as we had never seen in a couture house before”

Christian Dior (1905–1957) French fashion designer

Bettina Bellard, in p. 135
The press review he received for his applauded orchestrated show of his ninety female outfits, giving the image of Paris reborn.
Christian Dior: The Man who Made the World Look New

Tom Brady photo
Jennifer Tisdale photo

“I've danced my whole life and I really just enjoy dancing and performing, which is probably why I'm an actress. I love performing and getting a reaction from the crowd and giving people energy.”

Jennifer Tisdale (1981) American actress

Source: TEEN TALKS TO: Jennifer and Ashley Tisdale https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a11654/jennifer-tisdale-interview/ (January 1, 2008)

Prevale photo

“Meditating to deceive is one of the most disgusting actions an individual can perform in course of his life.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Meditare per ingannare è una delle azioni più disgustose che un individuo possa compiere nel corso della sua vita.
Source: prevale.net

Soong Mei-ling photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Kim Gordon photo

“I don't wanna think that I'm influential or an icon or blah blah blah blah...Ultimately, I feel most confident when I'm just working. Thinking about ideas. That's how I'm most comfortable. Or performing in a group situation.”

Kim Gordon (1953) American musician, bassist of Sonic Youth

On how she regards her musical impact in “We Talked to Kim Gordon and She's Just Like Us (Not Really)” https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wdbjwy/kim-gordon-shes-just-like-us-v23n07 in Vice (2016 Oct 16)

“The more inwardly pure a man is, the higher his rank and the nobler his station, so much he assiduously labors with sincere performance and a great fear.”

Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi Sufi Maturidi scholar and Hanafi jurist

of God
Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 83

Glacier Kwong photo

“The motivation for me as an activist is the belief that no one is subordinate to another. The government is merely an agent of the people. We lend authority to it, and when it performs badly, we reserve the right to take it back.”

Glacier Kwong (1996) Hong Kong human rights activist

Hong Kong’s angry young millennials: an interview with Joshua Wong https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/hong-kong-angry-young-millennials-interview-with-joshua-wong/ (1 November 2015)

Chulpan Khamatova photo

“I would probably say that music is one of the most expressive art forms for me. Of course, I don’t perform professionally, though it does play a huge role: it helps me think differently and want to go on living.”

Chulpan Khamatova (1975) Russian actress

As quoted in "An interview with Chulpan Khamatova" in Mariinsky Theatre (28 February 2012) https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_with_chulpan_khamatova/

Lane Nishikawa photo

“I try to get everybody to enter my world real quickly. I think the audience starts to see that it’s a person going through a struggle, (and) with each performance piece, the exchange just keeps growing.”

Lane Nishikawa American actor and filmmaker

On his writing technique in “‘Mission’ Accomplished? Not Yet, but Closer: Theater: Lane Nishikawa, star of a one-man show about diversity, says mainstream representation of Asian Americans is better than it was.” https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-04-18-ca-55954-story.html in Los Angeles Times (1995 Apr 18)

Megumi Hayashibara photo

“Eventually, the success of our job depends on fans' support, and I want them to take a long time before they evaluate our performances. I think fans will feel our enthusiasm and I want to live up to their expectations.”

Megumi Hayashibara (1967) Japanese voice actress and singer

As quoted in "Kappei Yamaguchi & Megumi Hayashibara - Interview with a Voice Actor and Actress" in Rumic World https://www.furinkan.com/features/interviews/yama.html

Lauren Tom photo

“If I was blond and tall, then I would have had 10 times the competition. I auditioned steadily and performed for everyone who would hire me. Now I am in a position to pick and choose my roles.”

Lauren Tom (1970) actress, voice actress

Actress Dazzles With One Women Show https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/11/18/actress-dazzles-with-one-women-show/ (18 November 2002)

Song Kang-ho photo