Ravi Shankar Quotes

Everybody has a right to like or dislike anything or anyone. From a flower to a flavor to a book or a composition but it is very sad that in our country we actually fight over such things in an unseemly manner.
Ravi Shankar

I came to New York in 1932. The Empire State Building was new. I was having fever. Whenever I was very excited, I would get a temperature. Coming to New York on a boat in the morning mist and fog, and slowly you see these giant buildings. It was magic. I went to the Cotton Club and saw Cab Calloway. He was so gorgeous. I went to Broadway—Will Rogers doing his lasso tricks—and Radio City Music Hall, with the Rockettes. Wow!
Ravi Shankar

In our culture we have such respect for musical instruments, they are like part of God.
Ravi Shankar

My secret ambition was always to provide music for animation films: something with an Indian theme, either a fairy tale or mythological tale or on the Krishna theme. I still have a very deep desire, but these sorts of chances don't always come.
Ravi Shankar

Pop changes week to week, month to month. But great music is like literature.
Ravi Shankar 

That's the trouble with me. When I'm commissioned, I have a lot of problems. I have great difficulty sitting in 'the middle of the night and writing. Everything I do comes spontaneous. Sometimes it takes a long time; sometimes it comes just like that.
Ravi Shankar