Quotes from The Piano Tuner

Daniel Mason ·  312 pages

Rating: (9.4K votes)


“The conversations rests uneasily; one doesn't expect good-byes to be burdened by such trivialities. This is not how it is in the books, he thinks, or in the theater, and he feels the need to speak of mission, of duty, of love. They reach home and close the door and he doesn't drop her hand. Where speech fails, touch compensates.”
― Daniel Mason, quote from The Piano Tuner


“White. Like a clean piece of paper, like uncarved ivory, all is white when the story begins.”
― Daniel Mason, quote from The Piano Tuner


“At times I wonder if the reason I have lost track of time is that I will know when to return not by a date, but when an emptiness is filled.”
― Daniel Mason, quote from The Piano Tuner


“being needed was not the same as being accepted.”
― Daniel Mason, quote from The Piano Tuner


“good piano tuner must have knowledge not only of his instrument but of “Physics, Philosophy, and Poetics,” so that Edgar, although he never attended university, reached his twentieth birthday with more education than many who had.”
― Daniel Mason, quote from The Piano Tuner



“that being needed was not the same as being accepted.”
― Daniel Mason, quote from The Piano Tuner


“One learns a lot if others assume you are deaf to their tongue.”
― Daniel Mason, quote from The Piano Tuner


“war. A balanced peace is a poor fertilizer for promotion.”
― Daniel Mason, quote from The Piano Tuner


About the author

Daniel Mason
Born place: The United States
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“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.

Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”
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