Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999)


Quote:
Too long have we thought of survival only in the context of the survival of the fittest, and today this means largely the survival of the richest. But I am afraid that wealth cannot indefinitely postpone or mask the more basic determinants, the naked heart and the naked claw.
... Why is compassion not part of our established curriculum, an inherent part of our education? Compassion, awe, wonder, curiosity, exhaltation, humility - these are the very foundation of any real civilisation, no longer the prerogatives, the preserves of any one church,. but belonging to everyone, every child in every home, in every school.
from: Just for Animals
The following extract is by James Henry Cook, quoted by his daughter Kathleen Keleny in her book: The First Century of Health Foods
Kathleen had music lessons from the age of 8 to 15 and then from 18 (when she typed for a composer in exchange for piano and singing lessons). As we lived near Birmingham she was able to attend most of the big Symphony concerts conducted by Adrian Boult in Birmingham Town Hall. She had free entrance because she was a programme seller. She heard Paderewski, Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin, a Vegetarian who said that his violin teacher was his Yoga teacher because he taught him how to relax. Much later when Kathleen was President of the Bath Vegetarian Society in her fifties, Yehudi Menuhin played at one of the Bath Festival events. He agreed to meet three Committee members after the concert and told Kathleen how very important his Vegetarian diet was to him and the work he did.