“When I was a little child there used to be two blind performers in Rajkot. One of them was a musician. When he played on his instrument, his fingers swept the strings with an unerring instinct and everybody listened spellbound to his playing. Similarly there are chords in every human heart. If we only knew how to strike the right chord, we would bring out the music.”
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Probable attribution
This saying is widely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, but the attribution is not supported by a reliable primary source.
Likely origin: Attributed to Gandhi; an anecdote of two blind performers in Rajkot closing with 'there are chords in every human heart ... strike the right chord'.
About this quote
Everyone has something in them that responds when it's reached the right way. Treat people as flat or fixed and you get nothing; take the time to learn what actually moves a particular person and you draw out effort and warmth that pressure never could. The skill is mostly in the listening.
When to use it
- A manager learns what each team member cares about and gets far better work as a result.
- A teacher reaches a withdrawn boy through his love of drawing after lectures went nowhere.
- A coach finds the one bit of praise that finally unlocks a nervous player's confidence.