A Gentleman's Pastime Charles A. Meurer American: 1865-1955 These poems, stories, songs, quote, and art have been gathered from all over the world, partly via FIDDLE-L, an online list for fiddlers and those who love fiddle music. dhebert@crocker.com

"We do not quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing." Oliver Wendell Holmes "We consider that the man who can fiddle all through one of those Virginia reels without losing his grip, may be depended upon in any kind of emergency." Mark Twain - Letter to Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, January 1863 "Music is the soil in that the spirit lives, thinks and invents." Ludwig van Beethoven "Perhaps it is music that will save the world." Pablo Casals "We're musicians. We play music. We're not trying to keep the music alive; the music is alive already." Wynton Marsalis "Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance" T.S. Eliot "The love of music does not require perfection. It waits to be surprised by it, but does not expect it in every case." Garrison Keillor "I think people who can truly live a life in music are telling the world, 'You can have my love, you can have my smiles. Forget the bad parts - you don't need them. Just take the music, the goodness, because it is the very best part, and the part I give most willingly.'" George Harrison "He who rests, rots." Arthur Fiedler, legendary Boston Pops' conductor "Retire? I'm gonna keep working as long as I can move!" Jessica Tandy, actress "The preacher wants his flock to see the light. I want mine to feel the groove." Donna Hébert "Groove is best when it is unconscious and prayer is best when not in one's native language, but they are very similar activities and experiences." John Burke "God gave me this voice to sing his name with all my soul - that is a musician's reward, and why we play and why we sing. For those moments of sheer joy and release from earthbound status to sail like a hawk on the wind." Charisse Lowe (fiddler/singer from Wichita) "Fiddlers just want to have fun!" Stacy Phillips "I don't want talking, I want fiddling!" Luther Davis "Sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left." Itzhak Perlman, after playing a concert at Avery Fisher Hall with three strings after breaking one "Get up, Kate. We can make more money plowing than we can playing the fiddle." John Morgan Salyer "Fiddle, we know, is diddle: and diddle, we take it, is dee." Algernon Swinburne "Talent does what it can. Genius does what it must." J. Scott Skinner, talented and competetive Scottish fiddler/violinist/composer, from the front cover of his tunebook, "The Scottish Violinist" Skinner was famous for writing (and playing) things his contemporaries couldn't match. "The music comes from the fiddler's heart, through his strings and straight into your heart." Father John Angus Rankin, Cape Breton musician "Music is the essence of order and leads to all that is good, just, and beautiful." Plato © 2001, 2002, Donna Hébert Fiddlestick Graphics