Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Music
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“…passions, violent or not, must never be expressed to the point of disgust, and Music must never offend the ear, even in most horrendous situations, but must always be pleasing, in other words always remain Music…”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) first seen 1781 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Leopold Mozart, (Vienna, 26 September 1781), from Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life: Selected Letters, ed. Robert Spaethling [W.W. Norton, 2000, ], p. 286
“Music has no subject beyond the combinations of notes we hear, for music speaks not only by means of sounds, it speaks nothing but sound.”
Eduard Hanslick (1825–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eduard Hanslick, quoted by Wolfgang Sandberger (1996) in the liner notes to the Juilliard String Quartet's Intimate Letters. Sony Classical SK 66840.
“He could have gone over that night and faced the music but how much music is a man supposed to face?”
John Updike (1932–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“CAROL: You don’t care for the music? JACQUE: Music! It’s just a gimmick to sell lutes and flutes.”
Joe Haldeman (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music will always find its way to us, with or without business, politics, religion, or any other bullshit attached. Music survives everything, and like God, it is always present. It needs no help, and suffers no hindrance.”
Eric Clapton (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.”
Charlie Parker (1920–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Bird : The Legend Of Charlie Parker (1977) by Robert George Reisner, p. 27
“It is necessary to abandon yourself completely, and let the music do as it will with you. All people come to music to seek oblivion.”
Claude Debussy (1862–1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Cambridge Companion to Debussy (2003) by Simon Trezise, p. 120
“If someone listens to our music, and it makes them creative, that makes me happier than anything. But with our music, we try to teach the masses of fans that not everything is as it seems.”
Marilyn Manson (born 1969) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Huh (10 October 1996).
“Art gives me the freedom I don’t have when I make music. In music, you feel a connection to the voice and think about the person behind it. In art that's secondary.”
Marilyn Manson (born 1969) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Regarding his latest art exhibition, as quoted in The Age (30 June 2010).
“A piece of art is not a loaf of bread. When someone steals a loaf of bread from the store, that's it. The loaf of bread is gone. When someone downloads a piece of music, it's just data until the listener puts that music back together with their own ears, their mind, their subjective experience. How they perceive your work changes your work.”
Jeff Tweedy (born 1967) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interviewed in 2004
“People used to say my music was too difficult or too obscure, and I never set out to be difficult or obscure. I just set out to write what I felt as honestly as I could, and I am delighted when other people feel a part of themselves in the music.”
Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Los Angeles Times (24 September 1995)
“Q: Radiohead fans tend to be extremely devoted to the band - they seem to connect with your music and ideals. What do you see as the major aspects of your music which people connect with so well?”
Thom Yorke (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who publishes the sheet-music of the winds, or the written music of water written in river-lines?”
John Muir (1838–1914) first seen 1875 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: August 1875, page 220
“I had an apartment and I had a neighbor, and whenever he would knock on my wall, I knew he wanted me to turn my music down, and that made me angry 'cause I like loud music... So when he knocked on the wall, I'd mess with his head. I'd say "Go around! I cannot open the wall! I don't know if you have a doorknob on your side, but over here there's nothin'. It's just flat.”
Mitch Hedberg (1968–2005) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comedy Central Presents, S01E06: Mitch Hedberg (5 January 1999)
“We actually have a candidate for the mind of God. The mind of God we believe is cosmic music, the music of strings resonating through 11 dimensional hyperspace. That is the mind of God.”
Michio Kaku (born 1947) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Math is the Mind of God (29 December 2012)
“Definitely, and it's getting more spiritual. Pretty soon I believe people will have to rely on music to get some kind of peace of mind, or satisfaction, or direction, actually. More so than politics, the big ego scene. You know it's an art of words... Meaning nothing. Therefore you will have to get an earthier substance, like music or the arts.”
Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I call my music the healing music … It makes the blind feel that they can see, the lame feel that they can walk, the deaf and dumb that they can hear and talk.”
Little Richard (1932–2020) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pop Chronicles: Show 5 - Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll: The rock revolution gets underway. (Part 1), interview recorded 1.2.1968
“And we would play together, like fine musicians should, And it would sound like music, and the music would sound good. But in real life I'm stuck with that same old formula, me and my monophonic symphony, six string orchestra.”
Harry Chapin (1942–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's funny how people are pickin' up on our music now, you know? I think it's wonderful that people like our music.”
Brian Wilson (1942–2025) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Caroline Now! interview (20 April 2000)
“Cleavage Sister: "What do you feel about erotic art?" Morrissey:"I don't know much about rotting art?" Cleavage Sister: "What about erotic music?" Morrissey:"I know a great deal about rotting music.”
“The music is one of the beautiful things that has survived the Castro regime. I have played for audiences all over the world but I've never played for a Cuban audience. For [husband] Emilio and me, the music is the one tie to our homeland.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: news.bostonherald.com (March 12, 2008)
“It is so important for me to keep authentic Cuban sounds alive. All of these great artists have changed the landscape of Latin music and it's an honor to have them on this album ["90 Millas," released in September of 2007]. I believe this album will expose a new generation to the richness of Cuban music.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: news release (July 20, 2007)
“The last thing I wanted to do was put politics into my music . . . because music was my escape.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: iTunes interview (released June 2, 2007)
“Music should always be a means of bridging gaps and uniting people. The beauty of music is that it can -- and should -- gather a wide variety of concepts in a way that's universal.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (www.internationalspeakers.com February 1, 2007)
“Music isn't enough. Performers aren't enough. There must be someone that loves music as much as life. For you, and remember this always, those of us with something urgent to say, we give everything.”
William Kapell (1922–1953) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Claudia Cassidy, "In Memory of William Kapell, Who Left Us Richer in Music", Chicago Tribune (October 30, 1953).
“Music conveys moods and images. Even in opera, where plots deal with the structure of destiny, it’s music, not words, that provides power.”
Marcel Marceau (1923–2007) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: US News & World Report (23 February 1987)
“All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value counts. On it centers the rationality of the status quo, and all alien rationality is bent to It.”
Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind ... the only yardstick by which the result should be judged is simply that of how it sounds. If it sounds good it's successful; if it doesn't it has failed.”
Duke Ellington (1899–1974) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Where Is Jazz Going? Music Journal (1962) Reproduced in The Duke Ellington Reader, .
“I make elevating music, you make elevator music”
“Music I heard with you was more than music, And bread I broke with you was more than bread; Now that I am without you, all is desolate; All that was once so beautiful is dead.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Two lovers move in the crowd like a link of music, We press upon them, we hold them, and let them pass; A chord of music strikes us and straight we tremble; We tremble like wind-blown grass.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What was this dream we had, a dream of music, Music that rose from the opening earth like magic And shook its beauty upon us and died away? The long cold streets extend once more before us. The red sun drops, the walls grow grey.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poetry is poetry, and one’s objective as a poet is to achieve poetry precisely as one’s objective in music is to achieve music.”
Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) first seen 1942 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Why He Selected 'Domination in Black'", in Whit Burnett, ed., This Is My Best (New York: The Dial Press, 1942), p. 652
“Like a page of music, like an upper air, Like a momentary color, in which swans Were seraphs, were saints, were changing essences. The west wind was the music, the motion, the force To which the swans curveted, a will to change, A will to make iris frettings on the blank.”
Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One day in Haiti I was talking to a farmer. I said, 'I don't have any solution to these problems.' He said, 'Of course you don't! You're a singer.' He was right. Music is what I live for - and as Coldplay, our main job is to make the best music we can. But I hope that in our small way we can do something to raise awareness.”
Chris Martin (born 1977) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Fair Trade, 2003. source
“Her voice had a thrill in it like music, frosty music.”
John Buchan (1875–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm the truth, across the table from corporate lies Immortilized by the realness I bring to it If revolution had a movie I'd be theme music My music, you can either fight, fuck, or dream to it”
Common (rapper) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Priest! Priest! Music! Music!”
Mary I of England (1516–1558) said by 1558 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are the same. There is no difference anywhere in the world. People are people. They laugh, cry, feel, and love, and music seems to be the commons denomination that brings us all together. Music cuts through all boundaries and goes right to the soul.”
Willie Nelson (born 1933) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The music is lyrical without lyrics. The lyrics are telling a story and they're conveying a situation or a person or a reflection or an observation, and the construction of the music I felt was doing the same sort of thing. It was lyrical in the way it was being played.”
Jimmy Page (born 1944) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Rachel Daniel in The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters. St. Martin's Griffin (published 7 October 2014). pp. 55.
“The author's conviction on this day of the New Year is that music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance; that poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music.”
Ezra Pound (1885–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I loved to talk about music to Nicky ... His influence came from people like The Beatles and The Beach Boys, and he had these ideas about layering vocals, painting landscapes with music. Roma knew about Irish mythology, told stories, wrote poetry and had this special feeling for lyrics. My grounding came from the classics.”
“Music when the lights go out Love goes cold in shades of doubt The strange face in my mind is all too clear Music when the lights come on The girl I thought I knew has gone And with her my heart has disappeared”
Pete Doherty (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perhaps the music that some call 'background' music can tranquilize by turning under-thoughts from bad to neutral, leaving the surface thoughts free of affect by diverting the unconscious.”
Marvin Minsky (1927–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hearing music is like viewing scenery and... when we hear good music our minds react in very much the same way they do when we see things.”
Marvin Minsky (1927–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“First and foremost, I'd like to continue taking risks with my music. Everything I've done so far has been a gut reaction, honest and real. And that's who I am. That's what I want my music to always be -- honest and real.”
Josh Groban (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm not crossing over from anything. I think of it as pop music with different influences. "When I walk in the music store, [my] album is under classical/pop/easy listening. It's hard to say what genre it is. It's genreless. I try not to define what it is. I let the audience define it. Because for me, it's just me.”
Josh Groban (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wanted to experiment with that live energy, to push myself a little. It's very much about having intimacy with the music. I love theater - and I love playing in these old theaters. It's not a Vegas stage show. It's very much just me and the music and a five-piece band and a 20-piece string section from each city.”
Josh Groban (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's really tough to make a name for yourself without compromising and without fitting yourself into a real specific mold. When I made the choice that I would be involved in every aspect of music and not necessarily make music for radio or MTV, I was saying, 'OK, this is me. You decide who it is.'”
Josh Groban (born 1981) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Inside Connection, February 2004