--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It's fitting, then, that we begin this…" description: "\"It's fitting, then, that we begin this exploration of ourselves and of the world with music, and more specifically with a musical quality called vibrat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e0/george-leonard-14208_civilization_it-s-fitting-then-that-we-begin-this-exp_945682.jpg" --- # It's fitting, then, that we begin this exploration of… ![“It's fitting, then, that we begin this exploration of ourselves and of the world with music, and more specifically with a musical quality called vibrato. This pulsation that wells up within the sounded note can lead us to what is most spontaneous and creative in human life, and possibly even to…” quote by George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e0/george-leonard-14208_civilization_it-s-fitting-then-that-we-begin-this-exp_945682.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e0/george-leonard-14208_civilization_it-s-fitting-then-that-we-begin-this-exp_945682.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e0/george-leonard-14208_civilization_it-s-fitting-then-that-we-begin-this-exp_945682.jpg) > “It's fitting, then, that we begin this exploration of ourselves and of the world with music, and more specifically with a musical quality called vibrato. This pulsation that wells up within the sounded note can lead us to what is most spontaneous and creative in human life, and possibly even to deeper mysteries--to powers of knowing and doing which we have lost or given away during the epoch of civilization, and which perhaps we may now regain.” [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He links music’s vibrato to human spontaneity and creative potential, suggesting we can rediscover lost powers through artistic expression. **In simple terms:** Music can unlock deeper creativity. Key Takeaway Use artistic rhythm to inspire creativity. Themes creativity music spirituality self‑discovery human potential Mood inspirational philosophical Type motivational reflective When to use this quote - music composition - dance - public speaking - meditation - team brainstorming Key Concepts Vibrato as metaphor creative flow cultural loss andrecovery Questions to Reflect On - In what ways does rhythm influence your creative work? - Can music truly restore lost human capacities? A Different Perspective Artistic metaphors may oversimplify complex psychological processes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Called Vibrato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/called-vibrato-1648478/) [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Creative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative/) [Deeper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deeper/) [Epoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/epoch/) [Exploration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exploration/) [Fitting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fitting/) [Given](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given/) [Human life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-life/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing/) [Knowing and doing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing-and-doing/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lost/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Musical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/musical/) [Mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystery/) [Notes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/notes/) [Quality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quality/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Specifically Musical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/specifically-musical-1648480/) [Spontaneous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spontaneous/) [Spontaneous Creative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spontaneous-creative-1021855/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) [Vibrato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vibrato-723633/) [Vibrato Pulsation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vibrato-pulsation-1648479/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Be spontaneous, be creative, go out and have fun, let things happen naturally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conor-mcgregor/be-spontaneous-be-creative-go-out-and-have-fun-let-things-happen/) [Conor McGregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conor-mcgregor/) > [“...but what is vibrato if not a breaking down of the rigid divisions between pitches, a temporary ending of our sundered musical segmentation; we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-dara/but-what-is-vibrato-if-not-a-breaking-down-of-the-rigid-divisions/) [Evan Dara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-dara/) > [In my early days, I never used finger vibrato at all. I originally carved my reputation as one of the 'fast' guitar players.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritchie-blackmore/in-my-early-days-i-never-used-finger-vibrato-at-all-i-originally/) [Ritchie Blackmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritchie-blackmore/) > [I think the fundamental part of my technique is my vibrato.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-trower/i-think-the-fundamental-part-of-my-technique-is-my-vibrato/) [Robin Trower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-trower/) > [A lot of people say I use too much autotune but no, my voice is just robotic. I say a word with one flat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nav/a-lot-of-people-say-i-use-too-much-autotune-but-no-my-voice-is-just/) [Nav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nav/) > [Vibrato is the badge of tonal maturity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-fischbach/vibrato-is-the-badge-of-tonal-maturity/) [Gerald Fischbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-fischbach/) > [I can do the old hand vibrato just fine, but I like attacking the strings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritchie-blackmore/i-can-do-the-old-hand-vibrato-just-fine-but-i-like-attacking-the/) [Ritchie Blackmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritchie-blackmore/) > [Control of vibrato helps your musical expression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-galway/control-of-vibrato-helps-your-musical-expression/) [James Galway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-galway/) > [I play in tune like a cello player and use legitimate vibrato. There are no tricks; it's just all in the hands!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaco-pastorius/i-play-in-tune-like-a-cello-player-and-use-legitimate-vibrato-there/) [Jaco Pastorius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaco-pastorius/) > [Well, first I'd want a better vibrato.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-kath/well-first-i-d-want-a-better-vibrato/) [Terry Kath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-kath/) > [When it comes to vibrato, a lot of people look at their hands when they do it. Which is pretty much of no use.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-gilbert/when-it-comes-to-vibrato-a-lot-of-people-look-at-their-hands-when/) [Paul Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-gilbert/) > [My vibrato was my weakness. With romantic pieces, I could be a lot more schmaltzy. My wider vibrato fit that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretchen-carlson/my-vibrato-was-my-weakness-with-romantic-pieces-i-could-be-a-lot-more/) [Gretchen Carlson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretchen-carlson/) > [If you've got a good vibrato, you can get away with a lot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonny-terry/if-you-ve-got-a-good-vibrato-you-can-get-away-with-a-lot/) [Sonny Terry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonny-terry/) > [Being willing is not enough. We must do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/being-willing-is-not-enough-we-must-do/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [“I want to affirm that thinking and living, knowing and doing, theory and practice intersect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/i-want-to-affirm-that-thinking-and-living-knowing-and-doing-theory/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) ## More by George Leonard > [Education is... doing anything that changes you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/education-is-doing-anything-that-changes-you/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [What if you're practicing wrong? Then you get very good at doing something wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/what-if-you-re-practicing-wrong-then-you-get-very-good-at-doing/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [“Competition is the spice of sports; but if you make spice the whole meal you'll be sick. The simplest single-celled organism oscillates to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/competition-is-the-spice-of-sports-but-if-you-make-spice-the-whole/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [Mastery is the art of setting your foot on the path.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/mastery-is-the-art-of-setting-your-foot-on-the-path/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [In terms of the game theory, we might say the universe is so constituted as to maximize play. The best games are not those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/in-terms-of-the-game-theory-we-might-say-the-universe-is-so/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [How do you best move toward mastery? To put it simply, you practice diligently, but you practice primarily for the sake of the practice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/how-do-you-best-move-toward-mastery-to-put-it-simply-you-practice/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/to-love-the-plateau-is-to-love-what-is-most-essential-and-enduring-in/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [Perhaps the safest prediction we can make about the future is that it will surprise us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/perhaps-the-safest-prediction-we-can-make-about-the-future-is-that-it/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [Now here is a key: you want to make it real and present in the realm of your consciousness. You don't say "I'm going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/now-here-is-a-key-you-want-to-make-it-real-and-present-in-the-realm/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [“Intentionality fuels the master's journey. Every master is a master of vision.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/intentionality-fuels-the-master-s-journey-every-master-is-a-master-of/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [At the heart of each of us, whatever our imperfections, there exists a silence pulse of perfect rhythm which is absolutely individual and unique,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/at-the-heart-of-each-of-us-whatever-our-imperfections-there-exists-a/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [What was once impossible now summons us to dismantle the walls between ourselves and our sisters and brothers, to dissolve the distinctions between flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/what-was-once-impossible-now-summons-us-to-dismantle-the-walls/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [Competition is the spice of sports; but if you make spice the whole meal you'll be sick.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/competition-is-the-spice-of-sports-but-if-you-make-spice-the-whole-2/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [At the root of all power and motion, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time, Before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/at-the-root-of-all-power-and-motion-there-is-music-and-rhythm-the-2/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) > [“Each subatomic particle within you is in touch with all that is. Every particle in the universe takes its characteristics from the pitch and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-leonard/each-subatomic-particle-within-you-is-in-touch-with-all-that-is-every/) [George Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) [Explore all 47 George Leonard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-leonard/) ## More Civilization quotes > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Sentiment is the mightiest force in civilization; not sentimentality, but sentiment. Women will bring this into politics. Home, sweet home, is as powerful on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-ellen-foster/sentiment-is-the-mightiest-force-in-civilization-not-sentimentality/) [Judith Ellen Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-ellen-foster/) > [Violence is not necessary to destroy a civilization. Each civilization dies from indifference toward the unique values which created it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/violence-is-not-necessary-to-destroy-a-civilization-each-civilization/) [Nicolas Gomez Davila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [“The voice in the head that never stops speaking becomes a civilization that is obsessed with form and therefore knows nothing of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/the-voice-in-the-head-that-never-stops-speaking-becomes-a/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [We released 400,000 classified documents, the most extraordinary history of a war to ever have been released in our civilization. Those documents cover 109,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-assange/we-released-400-000-classified-documents-the-most-extraordinary/) [Julian Assange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-assange/) > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Whenever we touch nature we get clean. People who have got dirty through too much civilization take a walk in the woods, or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/whenever-we-touch-nature-we-get-clean-people-who-have-got-dirty/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-von-clausewitz/the-invention-of-gunpowder-and-the-constant-improvement-of-firearms/) [Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-von-clausewitz/) > [Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentimentin mankind; so that the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-mission-is-not-to-replace-old-world-mindlessness-with-new-world/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Our civilization, bequeathed to us by fierce adventurers, eaters of meat and hunters, is so full of hurry and combat, so busy about many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/our-civilization-bequeathed-to-us-by-fierce-adventurers-eaters-of/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/coal-lay-in-ledges-under-the-ground-since-the-flood-until-a-laborer/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Once we allow ourselves to be disobedient to the test of an accountant's profit, we have begun to change our civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/once-we-allow-ourselves-to-be-disobedient-to-the-test-of-an/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-josiah-brewer/our-laws-and-our-institutions-must-necessarily-be-based-upon-and/) [David Josiah Brewer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-josiah-brewer/) [Browse all 4,084 Civilization quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It's fitting, then, that we begin this exploration of ourselves and of the world with music, and more specifically with a musical quality called vibrato. 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