A great pianist or violinist is rarely a great singer.
 Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast-Table (1872). copy citation

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Author Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
Source The Poet at the Breakfast-Table
Topic
Date 1872
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2666/2666-h/2666-h.htm

Context

““wreaks” it, to borrow Byron's word, on conversation as the natural outlet of his sensibilities and spiritual activities, is likely to talk better than the poet, who plays on the instrument of verse. A great pianist or violinist is rarely a great singer. To write a poem is to expend the vital force which would have made one brilliant for an hour or two, and to expend it on an instrument with more pipes, reeds, keys, stops, and pedals than the Great Organ that shakes New England every time it is played in full blast.” source