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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“My life is reflected in my songs. I put my whole being into each song, making it possible for listeners to identify with my challenges and journey.”
Eno Barony (born 1991) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today we’re celebrating the kind of music that makes you move no matter who you are or where you come from; music that taps into feelings and experiences that we all share — love and heartbreak, pride and doubt, tragedy and triumph. It is called soul music.”
Michelle Obama (born 1964) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statements at "I'm every woman: The History of Women in Soul" event (06 March 2014)
“Cosimo: It is only a play... with music? Does God say the same at every death? It is only a play... with music? When I die, will someone say the same? He was only a prince. He died. It was only a play... with music.”
Peter Greenaway (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have absolutely no difficulty in coming out and saying Bach and Beethoven are great composers. You must school young people into great classical music, but you must also allow them to hear other music as well. At one point classical music colonised the high ground. Now we're reaping the backlash for that.”
Joanna MacGregor (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You see, if I was a guy, and I was sitting here with a cigarette in my hand, grabbing my crotch and talking about how I make music because I like fast cars and fucking girls, you'd call me a rockstar. But when I do it in my music and in my videos, because I'm a female, because I make pop music, you're judgmental and you say that it is distracting... I'm just a rockstar.”
“That's what music is about, and those are the types of experiences I value most in looking for the visceral and unidentifiable thing it is that makes music music, and not something else.”
Mark Heard (1951–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, when music "moves" someone, it doesn't necessarily have to be in a positive direction. Some people certainly get moved by darker music, and there are all sorts of emotions which music can create that are interesting -- aggression, foreboding, anger, fear. Not everyone wants to feel happy all the time :)”
Andrew Sega (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe that the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the use of electrical instruments which will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard. Photoelectric, film and mechanical mediums for the synthetic production of music will be explored.”
John Cage (1912–1992) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote of John Cage, in: 'The Future of Music: Credo' (1937); SILENCE 3-4
“Of course the music is a great difficulty. You see, if one plays good music, people don't listen, and if one plays bad music people don't talk.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sphere Music — Some sounds seem to reverberate along the plain, and then settle to earth again like dust; such are Noise, Discord, Jargon. But such only as spring heavenward, and I may catch from steeples and hilltops in their upward course, which are the more refined parts of the former, are the true sphere music — pure, unmixed music — in which no wail mingles.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) first seen 1838 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: August 5, 1838
“And of course, in my writing, there is the constant theme of music, love of, preoccupation with, music. Music is the single thread making my life into a coherency. ... It's my job and my vice mixed together. You can't hope for better than that: having your job and your sin commingled.”
Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music is so personal to me. I can be myself, and say what I want to say. I feel I'm honest and don't try to hide things. But music enables people to learn about my personality, how I'm evolving. Even if I don't feel comfortable talking about something, I can feel comfortable expressing that same thing through my music.”
Hilary Duff (born 1987) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hilary Duff comes to Manchester on Jan. 27". The Dover Community News. December 31 2004. Retrieved October 25 2006.
“The very being of music is created by cognitive attributions made by individual perceiving or conceiving imaginers, in individual acts of perceiving or conceiving--that, in fact, the only real music 'theory' IS the creative-intellectual transaction which ontologizes music itself.”
Benjamin Boretz (born 1934) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Meta-Variations: studies in the foundations of musical thought Red Hook, N.Y. : Open Space, 1995.
“Every generation wants to be the last. Every generation hates the next trend in music they can't understand. We hate to give up the reins of our culture. To find our own music playing in elevators. The ballad for our revolution, turned into background music for a television commercial. To find our generation's clothes and hair suddenly retro.”
Chuck Palahniuk (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music has been around a long time, and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the frosting on the cake, but music's the main meal.”
Ray Charles (1930–2004) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted "Words of the Week" in Jet magazine, Vol. 64, No. 6 (25 April 1983), p. 40
“Music is nothing separate from me. It is me. I can't retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. You'd have to remove the music from me surgically — like you were taking out my appendix.”
Ray Charles (1930–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In applications of the music-as-language metaphor we should attend to diverse musical traditions in musical terms, including not only traditions of the music we study but also traditions of how we study music.”
Harold Powers (1928–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All of us have the privilege of making music that helps and heals — to make music that makes people happier, stronger and kinder. Don't forget: music is God's voice.”
Brian Wilson (1942–2025) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At the induction ceremony of The Beach Boys into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (January 1988) · Video of acceptance speech
“When people hear music that is spiritual it gets through. Music that is Godlike and loving gets through. I don’t have any power in this world, but I have spiritual power. I think God gave me my music and my talent. I’m trying to get across a feeling of spirituality; I think I have a spiritual influence on people.”
Brian Wilson (1942–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But, ultimately, I don't have very cast iron opinions on black music other than black modern music which I detest. I detest Stevie Wonder. I think Diana Ross is awful. I hate all those records in the Top 40 - Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston. I think they're vile in the extreme. In essence this music doesn't say anything whatsoever.”
Morrissey (born 1959) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From "Home thoughts from abroad", article by Frank Owen, Melody Maker (27 Sep 1986)
“My goal is to live the truly religious life and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there's no problem because the music is just part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am—my faith, my knowledge, my being.”
John Coltrane (1926–1967) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The New Jazz", (December 12, 1966), p. 108
“I'm a writer. I've written most of the music we've performed. Most people don't know that because no one cares who writes the music. But, that's who I am. I've written poetry since I was a little girl. Music was an evolution of that.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: greenbaypressgazette.com (October 5, 2005)
“Jimi Hendrix once said, 'You will never hear surf music again.' Well, tonight, you will hear 'serf' music again -- S-E-R-F music.”
Jello Biafra (born 1958) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introducing the song "New Feudalism" with The No WTO Combo on (30 November 1999)
“Music and silence... combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.”
Marcel Marceau (1923–2007) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: US News & World R eport (23 February 1987)
“It is my profound wish that this entire collection shall be devoted to the advancement of fine music for the continued enjoyment of music enthusiasts throughout the United States, be they students of the arts, performing artists, or members of that vast audience of music lovers among the American public.”
Leopold Stokowski (1882–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Asked about the vogue for Rock 'n' Roll and calypso] [N]o matter what you call it, music is as good as it sounds. Music is an oral art. Until you hear it, it is not music and if it sounds good it is good.”
Duke Ellington (1899–1974) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Ellington Jazz Story On Tonight", St. Louis Globe-Democrat (May 8, 1957), p. 11C
“For the music, it’s not about the individual — so the more you let the music speak for yourself, the more powerful the music will be.”
Maynard James Keenan (born 1964) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Carl Kozlowski (September 11, 2008) "Taste in the making: Tool’s Maynard James Keenan shifts his focus from writing dark lyrics to creating zesty wines", Pasadena Weekly. Southland Publishing.
“We do not confine people to looking at poor pictures and listening to poor music. We urge them to look at as many good pictures and hear as much good music as they can, convinced that this is the way in which they will come to understand and appreciate art and music.”
Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have a bag full of words, and when one of us comes up with a good piece of music, I look in the bag to see if anything there will fit. If nothing does, I sit down and try to put down on paper what the music makes me feel; very rarely will a piece of writing inspire a piece of music. (CANOE 1996)”
Robert Smith (musician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Musically, I’m feeling open … I just want to play. I want to have fun with music.” Source: Apple Music interview via Revolt (Feb 12, 2023) — “Fans should expect the unexpected as Rihanna talks new music”
Rihanna (born 1988) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fans should expect the unexpected as Rihanna talks new music: "I just want to play" REVOLT ( 2.12.2023)
“My sense of history in music is much greater than a lot of people's. I listen a lot further back in the whole history of music. It's not just pop music of the last 20, 30, 40, 50 years. I'm listening to stuff from hundreds of years ago as well, because you can learn from everything.”
Elvis Costello (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A great piece of music is beautiful regardless of how it is performed. Any prelude or fugue of Bach can be played at any tempo, with or without rhythmic nuances, and it will still be great music. That's how music should be written, so that no-one, no matter how philistine, can ruin it.”
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Isaac Glikman, August 28, 1955; Josiah Fisk & Jeff Nichols (eds.) Composers on Music (1997) p. 364.
“I love seeing Lady Gaga's boobs and bum. I love seeing Katy Perry's boobs and bum. Love it. But that's not what my music is about. I don’t make music for eyes, I make music for ears.”
Adele (singer) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Adele in Rolling Stone, 28 April 2011.
“If music is bad then why has it reached such heights? Why does music make me to soar towards heaven? The religion of music is one; all other are different. I tell the Mullas that this is the only haqeeqat (reality). This is my world. My Namaaz is the seven ‘sudh’ [pure] and five ‘komal’ [soft] surs.”
Bismillah Khan (1916–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whoever gets involved in this field becomes spiritual because the music itself is purely spiritual. The music is a prayer, a rare kind of prayer. Music is created by the Supreme entity (‘Brahma’) so that we can get an understanding or a view (‘Darshan’) of that entity.”
Hariprasad Chaurasia (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you read about African music, they believe that during the process of making this music that you come into contact with spirits from another plane. They say that this place is like a mirror of the world we live in…With the best music, you don't find the composer or the musicians within the work, you find yourself, your own feelings.”
Lisa Gerrard (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My fans really love me, so they want to understand classical music and I want to help them. By watching me, they’ve learnt not to clap between the movements, to know some of the music I play quite well. I love the idea of playing quiet music on a big stage, you can feel every note bubbling in the air, with everybody following.”
“I came from a background of blues and rock based(music). I hadn’t listened to Jazz or even Classical Music until just recently. Listening to Stan Getz, you know, he is one of my favorite Saxophonists, so he’s influenced my sound and influences how I play this music. Right now.”
Ross Mintzer (born 1987) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Human process music using both absolute and relational processing... we attend to the actual pitches and duration we hear in music, as well as their relative values. This dual mode of processing is rare among species... These modes of processing and the brain mechanisms that gave rise to them were necessary for the development of language, music, poetry, and art.”
Daniel Levitin (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music and Poetry have ever been acknowledged Sisters, which walking hand in hand support each other; As poetry is the harmony of words, so music is that of notes; and as poetry is a rise above prose and oratory, so is music the exaltation of poetry. Both of them may excel apart, but sure they are most excellent when they are oined, because nothing is then wanting to either of their perfections.”
Henry Purcell (1659–1695) said by 1695 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Henry Purcell, Edward Taylor (1843) in "Introduction" to, King Arthur: an opera in 5 acts, written by John Dryden. p. 3; Introduction; Cited in: James Anthony Froude, John Tulloch (1852), Fraser's Magazine, Vol. 45, p…
“Plays are events in time and space. Plays are music. Word music. Visual music. I’ve always thought of plays as a form of composition—of text and the architecture of the experience of the full-length evening…”
Caridad Svich (born 1963) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how she describes plays in “Making Invisible Stories Seen, Heard and Felt Interview with Caridad Svich” in The IATC webjournal/Revue web de l'AICT – Autumn 2010: Issue No 3
“It’s what I know best. It’s roots. It’s Dazed And Confused and Friday Night Lights. It’s border life and El Pato and Whataburger and getting drunk in a back of a pickup. It’s dancing every weekend to country music, or Tejano music, or club music. It’s the beach. It’s, for better or worse, home.”
Mando Alvarado wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I like to read a lot. I like the printed word. I find that structure–of words and sentences and paragraphs and chapters–a very good structure for writing music. Music also has a very linear quality on the page, of those five parallel lines and the bar structure of music. I start on projects always by reading.”
Howard Shore (born 1946) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Brilliant Composer Howard Shore (February 16, 2005)
“The animation can go anywhere, and the music has to go with it. What is especially great from a composer's point of view is that the music in these shows gets featured, not buried; these shows appreciate the value of what the music is doing.”
Steve Rucker (composer) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sophisticated Kids (August 20, 2002)
“We bought the music from progressive Americans who came to visit Hanoi. We also have our own music, but I think that the G.I.s like to listen to American music, it's more suitable to their ears.”
Hanoi Hannah (1931–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think rock music is more personal for me. I have more freedom. I can show more of my personal emotions in rock and roll music. With classical music, I can only play something that is written already.”
Cui Jian (born 1961) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cui Jian: Father of Chinese Rock 'N' Roll in UCLA Global (3 June 2005)
“I want to give a serious message in the pop music. Right now, I think most of the rock and roll music - they just don't want touch this. You know, they think this is not fashion anymore. And that the young people will think this not cool. I think this a part of rock and roll music - good melody, good energy, and good message.”
“Already in October at the same time as my course with Stockhausen I will have to learn 2 African languages. Probably around January I will go to South Africa to study African music. This project is terribly important for me because for me to spend one year at the sources of music and to understand the fundamental reasons for music is terribly important, essential to the formation of a composer.”
Claude Vivier (1948–1983) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to the Canada Council for the Arts, 1973 Gilmore (2014), Claude Vivier: A Composer's Life
“Well, I like to think about what Louis Armstrong and also Duke Ellington said about music. There'are only two kinds of music: good and bad... And, I would like to think about my music as being good.”
Dr. John (1941–2019) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 10 Questions for Dr. John, Time interview by Tim Morrison at YouTube, 10 Sept. 2010, 0.30/6.08 min. Dr. John in answer to the question "How would you describe your own music.
“I started doing music while still young before I did any kind of job, so all I have today comes from music and every bill I paid in my life is because of music,” says Knowless.”
Butera Knowless (born 1990) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Everything I Own Today Is from Music – Butera Knowless. KT Press (September 26, 2026).