Simon

53 going on 25. Bass player (and occasional guitarist). Sometime editor, typesetter and general Mac enthusiast (but definitely not computer nerd). Good (some say very good) cook - and mostly housetrained. Warm, witty, well-travelled and several other things beginning with w (no sniggering at the back, please...).

The headline quote is something I heard on Radio 4's 'Thought For The Day'. Not something I normally listen to, because it always ends up being about God, who doesn't exist. But anyway, the story was:
Itzhak Perlman, one of the greatest violinists the world has ever known, and famously crippled by polio, is three-quarters of the way through playing a violin concerto when he breaks a string. Without a moment's hesitation, he carries on and plays the rest of the concerto on three strings. At the end, there is a stunned silence, followed by a 10 minute standing ovation and numerous curtain calls.
Eventually, Perlman manages to silence the crowd for long enough to say - and obviously referring to far more than the broken string: 'Our task is to make music with what we have'.
Sadly, I've since dicovered that the story is completely untrue, but hey, you get the idea...

My other favourite quote is from a 1982 Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson annual - after Holmes introduces himself in flawless Mandarin to a Chinese visitor: Lestrade: 'Holmes, I had no idea you spoke Chinese!' Holmes: 'A gentleman is able to be polite in several languages'.