Andrew Gradman

“Since leaving the School for the Blind, he had spent more than ten years giving one tuning to thousands of pianos. He had little inkling that before long he would spend many more years giving thousands of tunings to just one.”
― Katie Hafner, A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano

“In his spare moments, when he was not engaged in social work, Master Oh carried out research of another kind: it was he, for example, who invented the method of locating—at great distances—planets occupied by intelligent life. This is the method of the “a posteriori clue,” incredibly simple, as are all ideas of genius. The flaring up of a new star in the firmament, where there have been no stars before, testifies to the recent disintegration of a planet whose former inhabitants had achieved a high level of civilization and discovered the means of releasing atomic energy.”
― Stanisław Lem, The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy

“Churchill, aware of Hitler’s use of astrologers, once summoned one himself. In a what-the-hell moment, he asked the surprised fortune-teller to tell him what Hitler’s fortune-teller was telling Hitler. Churchill told his friend Kay Halle the story years later with the caveat that “this is just between us.”
― William R. Manchester, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965

“Over the years, Gould’s fear of germs and his obsession with his health had blossomed into full-blown hypochondria. David Bar-Illan, the Israeli pianist, recalled once getting a phone call from Gould. Upon picking up the receiver, Bar-Illan first sneezed and then coughed before saying hello. With a note of worry in his voice, Gould asked, “What’s the matter?” When Bar-Illan responded that he had a cold, Gould quickly hung up.”
― Katie Hafner, A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano