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Musicologist Inspirational Quotes (3250)

Page 17 of 136
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Just as a stream flows smoothly on as long as it encounters no obstruction, so the nature of man and animal is such that we never really notice or become conscious of what is agreeable to our will if we are to notice something, our will has to have been thwarted, has to have experienced a shock of some kind.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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But as a skeptic I am dubious about science as about everything else, unless the scientist is himself a skeptic, and few of them are. The stench of formaldehyde may be as potent as the whiff of incense in stimulating a naturally idolatrous understanding.
Robertson Davies
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Nothing happens unless first we dream.
Carl Sandburg
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She was heavier than he expected - women always are.
Sylvia Townsend Warner
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Where shall the lover rest, Whom the fates sever From his true maiden's breast, Parted for ever? Where, through groves deep and high, Sounds the far billow, Where early violets die, Under the willow.
Walter Scott
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They never sought in vain that sought the Lord alright!
Robert Burns
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We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart.
Walter Scott
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At length I recollected the thoughtless saying of a great princess, who, on being informed that the country people had no bread, replied, Let them eat cake.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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In the Islamic world, the U.S. is seen in two quite different ways. One view recognizes what an extraordinary country the U.S. is.
Edward Said
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We have learned to express the more delicate nuances of feeling by penetrating more deeply into the mysteries of harmony.
Robert Schumann
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A great symphony is a man-made Mississippi down which we irresistibly flow from the instant of our leave-taking to a long forseen destination.
Aaron Copland
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You may be sitting in a room reading this book. Imagine one note struck upon the piano. Immediately that one note is enough to change the atmosphere of the room - proving that the sound element in music is a powerful and mysterious agent, which it would be foolish to deride or belittle.
Aaron Copland
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I don't compose. I assemble materials.
Aaron Copland
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There is something about music that keeps its distance even at the moment that it engulfs us. It is at the same time outside and away from us and inside and part of us. In one sense it dwarfs us, and in another we master it. We are led on and on, and yet in some strange way we never lose control.
Aaron Copland
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When I speak of the gifted listener, I am thinking of the nonmusician primarily, of the listener who intends to retain his amateur status. It is the thought of just such a listener that excites the composer in me.
Aaron Copland
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A melody is not merely something you can hum.
Aaron Copland
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Someone once asked me... whether I waited for inspiration. My answer was: Every day!
Aaron Copland
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Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t.
Aaron Copland
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If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles.
Aaron Copland
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I adore extravagance but I abhor waste.
Aaron Copland
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You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down some sort of permanent statement about the way it feels to live now, today.
Aaron Copland
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The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It's useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.
Aaron Copland
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This whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, “Is there a meaning to music?” My answer to that would be, “Yes.” And “Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?” My answer to that would be, “No.”
Aaron Copland
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So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.
Aaron Copland
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