---
title: "5 Composition Quotes By Brian Eno"
description: "5 Composition quotes by Brian Eno. Plus more from Brian Eno and more Composition sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/brian-eno-776_composition_songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-d_84865.jpg"
---

> [Songs that don't depend on composition depend instead on performance - so the fire has to be there in the playing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-depend-instead-on-performance/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/brian-eno-776_composition_songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-d_84865.jpg)

> [Classical - perhaps I should say 'orchestral' - music is so digital, so cut up, rhythmically, pitchwise and in terms of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/classical-perhaps-i-should-say-orchestral-music-is-so-digital-so-cut/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72a/brian-eno-776_arithmetic_classical-perhaps-i-should-say-orchestra_825273.jpg)

> [The micro-compositions are the pieces themselves, but the macro-composition is the whole set of them and how it moves from track to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/the-micro-compositions-are-the-pieces-themselves-but-the-macro/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/brian-eno-776_composition_the-micro-compositions-are-the-pieces-th_947487.jpg)

> [Any constraint is part of the skeleton that you build the composition on - including your own incompetence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/any-constraint-is-part-of-the-skeleton-that-you-build-the-composition/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/brian-eno-776_composition_any-constraint-is-part-of-the-skeleton-t_1757954.jpg)

> [Composition is a way of living out your philosophy and calling it art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/composition-is-a-way-of-living-out-your-philosophy-and-calling-it-art/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/821/brian-eno-776_art_composition-is-a-way-of-living-out-your_3194002.jpg)

## Other authors on Composition

## More by Brian Eno

> [I have lived in countries that were coming out of conflict: Ireland, South Africa, the Czech republic. People there are overflowing with energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-have-lived-in-countries-that-were-coming-out-of-conflict-ireland/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [The lyrics are constructed as empirically as the music. I don't set out to say anything very important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/the-lyrics-are-constructed-as-empirically-as-the-music-i-don-t-set/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [Admirers can be a tremendous force for conservatism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/admirers-can-be-a-tremendous-force-for-conservatism/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [The whole history of pop music had rested on the first person singular, with occasional intrusions of the second person singular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/the-whole-history-of-pop-music-had-rested-on-the-first-person/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [You can't really imagine music without technology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/you-can-t-really-imagine-music-without-technology/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [Robert Fripp and I will be recording another LP very soon. It should be even more monotonous than the first one!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/robert-fripp-and-i-will-be-recording-another-lp-very-soon-it-should/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [I despise computers in many ways. I think they’re hopelessly underevolved and overrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-despise-computers-in-many-ways-i-think-they-re-hopelessly/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [I think very often producers are really trying to repeat things. When they hear something in the new songs that they recognize as being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-very-often-producers-are-really-trying-to-repeat-things-when/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [I think that's very significant that we're so attached to the idea now of - it was something I advocated for years, that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-that-s-very-significant-that-we-re-so-attached-to-the-idea/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [If you watch any good player, they're using different parts of their body and working with instruments that respond to those movements. They're moving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/if-you-watch-any-good-player-they-re-using-different-parts-of-their/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [Songs that don't depend on composition depend instead on performance - so the fire has to be there in the playing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-depend-instead-on-performance/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [I can see the use and value of religion, just as I can see the use of mud wrestling, yoga, astronomy and sadomasochism. but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-can-see-the-use-and-value-of-religion-just-as-i-can-see-the-use-of/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [I wanted to get rid of the element that had been considered essential in pop music: the voice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-wanted-to-get-rid-of-the-element-that-had-been-considered-essential/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [At the beginning of the 20th century, the ambition of the great painters was to make paintings that were like music, which was then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/at-the-beginning-of-the-20th-century-the-ambition-of-the-great/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

> [I had an interesting day. I was in the studio with a group of musicians, who shall remain nameless, and I said to them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-had-an-interesting-day-i-was-in-the-studio-with-a-group-of/)

[Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/brian-eno/#itemlist",
            "name": "5 Composition Quotes By Brian Eno",
            "numberOfItems": 5,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Songs that don't depend on composition depend instead on performance - so the fire has to be there in the playing.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Brian Eno"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-depend-instead-on-performance/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/brian-eno-776_composition_songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-d_84865.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/brian-eno-776_composition_songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-d_84865.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/brian-eno-776_composition_songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-d_84865.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Songs that don't depend on composition depend instead on performance - so the fire has to be there in the…” — Brian Eno",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Classical - perhaps I should say 'orchestral' - music is so digital, so cut up, rhythmically, pitchwise and in terms of the roles of the musicians. It's all in little boxes. The reason you get child prodigies in chess, arithmetic, and classical composition is that they are all worlds of discontinuous, parceled-up possibilities.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Brian Eno"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/classical-perhaps-i-should-say-orchestral-music-is-so-digital-so-cut/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72a/brian-eno-776_arithmetic_classical-perhaps-i-should-say-orchestra_825273.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72a/brian-eno-776_arithmetic_classical-perhaps-i-should-say-orchestra_825273.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72a/brian-eno-776_arithmetic_classical-perhaps-i-should-say-orchestra_825273.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Classical - perhaps I should say 'orchestral' - music is so digital, so cut up, rhythmically, pitchwise and…” — Brian Eno",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "The micro-compositions are the pieces themselves, but the macro-composition is the whole set of them and how it moves from track to track and how the titles relate to one another, for example. Always when I do records like this of a selection of instrumental pieces - the titles, to me, are very important.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Brian Eno"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/the-micro-compositions-are-the-pieces-themselves-but-the-macro/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/brian-eno-776_composition_the-micro-compositions-are-the-pieces-th_947487.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/brian-eno-776_composition_the-micro-compositions-are-the-pieces-th_947487.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/brian-eno-776_composition_the-micro-compositions-are-the-pieces-th_947487.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The micro-compositions are the pieces themselves, but the macro-composition is the whole set of them and how…” — Brian Eno",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Any constraint is part of the skeleton that you build the composition on - including your own incompetence.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Brian Eno"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/any-constraint-is-part-of-the-skeleton-that-you-build-the-composition/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/brian-eno-776_composition_any-constraint-is-part-of-the-skeleton-t_1757954.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/brian-eno-776_composition_any-constraint-is-part-of-the-skeleton-t_1757954.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/brian-eno-776_composition_any-constraint-is-part-of-the-skeleton-t_1757954.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Any constraint is part of the skeleton that you build the composition on - including your own incompetence.” — Brian Eno",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Composition is a way of living out your philosophy and calling it art.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Brian Eno"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/composition-is-a-way-of-living-out-your-philosophy-and-calling-it-art/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/821/brian-eno-776_art_composition-is-a-way-of-living-out-your_3194002.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/821/brian-eno-776_art_composition-is-a-way-of-living-out-your_3194002.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/821/brian-eno-776_art_composition-is-a-way-of-living-out-your_3194002.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Composition is a way of living out your philosophy and calling it art.” — Brian Eno",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/brian-eno/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/brian-eno/",
            "name": "Composition Quotes by Brian Eno",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/brian-eno/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/brian-eno-776_composition_songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-d_84865.jpg"
            },
            "description": "5 Composition quotes by Brian Eno. Plus more from Brian Eno and more Composition sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/brian-eno/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/brian-eno/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Composition",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Brian Eno",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/brian-eno/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
