I don't think that either self-deprecation or self-aggrandizement is among the defining qualities of an artist... Beethoven could have been forgiven if his symphonies had gone to his head. Gretchaninoff could also be forgiven if his Dobrinya Nikititch went to… — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
When a man is in despair, it means that he still believes in something. — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
It's about the people, who have stopped believing because the cup of evil has run over. — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
I don't know what will become of this piece. Our brave critics will no doubt charge me with imitating Ravel's Bolero. Too bad -… — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
I feel eternal pain for those who were killed by Hitler, but I feel no less pain for those killed on Stalin's orders. I… — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
I always try to make myself as widely understood as possible; and if I don't succeed, I consider it my own fault. — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
Many consider that Shostakovich is the greatest 20th-century composer. In his 15 symphonies, 15 quartets, and in other works he demonstrated mastery of the… — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
I live in the USSR, work actively and count naturally on the worker and peasant spectator. If I am not comprehensible to them I… — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
Music is good, not evil. Poetry is good, not evil. Primitive, but oh, so true! — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
In the long run, any words about music are less important than the music. — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
Real music is always revolutionary, for it cements the ranks of the people; it arouses them and leads them onward. — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
The most uninteresting part of the biography of a composer is his childhood. All those preludes are the same and the reader hurries on… — Dmitri Shostakovich Copy Share Image
