"You have only one string to your conversational violin, namely, yourself. and on it you a number of monotonous variations: what you think, what you have done, how good you are etc.".

What does this sentence mean?

Thanks in advance.

Question

"You have only one string to your conversational violin, namely, yourself. and on it you a number of monotonous variations: what you think, what you have done, how good you are etc.".

What does this sentence mean?

Thanks in advance.

Answer

It is a rather vague expression, but I think "your conversational violin" is meant to be a metaphor for the person's style of conversation. In which case, the entire quote is intended to be an insult, since the speaker is pretty much saying that the listener is a boring conversationalist—they only talk about themselves.

Answer

It means the person they are talking to is only interested in themselves.