Benjamin Zander Quotes

The conductor of an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful.

My job [is] to awaken possibility in other people. If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. If they're not shining you get to ask this question: "Who am I being that my children's eyes are not shining?"

I have a definition of success. For me it's very simple. It's not about wealth and fame and power. It's about how many shining eyes I have around me.

Throw yourself into life as someone who makes a difference, accepting that you may not understand how or why.

It’s one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he’s leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming. Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, ‘I have a dream. Of course, I’m not sure they’ll be up to it.

When you make a mistake, throw your hands in the air and say "How fascinating!"

This is the moment — this is the most important moment right now. Which is: We are about contribution. That’s what our job is. It’s not about impressing people. It’s not about getting the next job. It’s about contributing something.

In the measurement world, we set a goal and strive to achieve it. In the universe of possibility, we set the context and let life unfold.

As leaders, we're giving out grades in every encounter we have with people. We can choose to give out grades as an expectation to live up to, and then we can reassess them according to performance. Or we can offer grades as a possibility to live into. The second approach is much more powerful.

I'm so sorry for you; your lives have been so easy. You can't play great music unless your heart's been broken.

The job of the leader is to speak to the possibility.

The major difference between the 'best' and the 'average' is that the 'best' get as much pleasure from practice as performance.

It's not a question of how much power you can hoard for yourself, but how much you can give away.

Look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it.

How often do we stand convinced of the truth of our early memories, forgetting that they are assessments made by a child? We can replace the narratives that hold us back by inventing wiser stories, free from childish fears, and, in doing so, disperse long-held psychological stumbling blocks.

Everybody loves classical music they just don't know about it yet.

My job is to awaken possibility in other people.

South Africa is a country built on possibility. Possibility lies in making a difference and creating value from a situation - without denying that certain issues exist.

Who am I being that my players' eyes are not shining?

I make myself a relentless architect of the possibilities of human beings.

I have a definition of success.

Life is revealed as a place to contribute and we as contributors. Not because we have done a measurable amount of good, but because that is the story we tell.

Live the rest of your life in possibility

It is the tuning of the universe... It's as if at the beginning of the symphony God turns up the volume just a tiny bit.

Imagine Martin Luther King saying, 'I have a dream ... But I don't know if the others will buy it.'

If you make a mistake, celebrate.

how absurd human beings are and how magnificent.