Not one sound fears the silence that extinguishes it. And no silence exists that is not pregnant with sound. — John Cage Copy Share Image
One shouldn't go to the woods looking for something, but rather to see what is there. — John Cage Copy Share Image
Now that we have everything we need, we discover that there is almost nothing that we have that we want — John Cage Copy Share Image
When you make music you are acting as a philosopher. You can either do that consciously or you can do it unconsciously,… — John Cage Copy Share Image
Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we… — John Cage Copy Share Image
Don't try to create and analyze at the same time. They're different processes. — John Cage Copy Share Image
In that case I will devote my life to beating my head against that wall. — John Cage Copy Share Image
A mind that is interested in changing...is interested precisely in the things that are at extremes. I'm certainly like that. Unless we… — John Cage Copy Share Image
There's no such thing as silence. Something is always happening that makes a sound. — John Cage Copy Share Image
If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that… — John Cage Copy Share Image
It was at Harvard not quite forty years ago that I went into an anechoic [totally silent] chamber not expecting in that silent room… — John Cage Copy Share Image
So somebody has talent? So what? Dime a dozen. And we're overpopulated. Actually we have more food than we have people and more art.… — John Cage Copy Share Image
“...the important questions are answered by not liking only but disliking and accepting equally what one likes and dislikes. Otherwise there is no access… — John Cage Copy Share Image
The material of music is sound and silence. Integrating these is composing. — John Cage Copy Share Image
To see, one must go beyond the imiagination and for that one must stand absolutely still as though at the center of a leap. — John Cage Copy Share Image
Value judgments are destructive to our proper business, which is curiosity and awareness. — John Cage Copy Share Image
Our intention is to affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply to wake… — John Cage Copy Share Image
There are some good people in it, but the orchestra as a whole is equivalent to a gang bent on destruction. — John Cage Copy Share Image
Art's purpose is to sober and quiet the mind so that it is in accord with what happens. — John Cage Copy Share Image
People who aren't artists often feel that artists are inspired. But if you work at your art you don't have time to be inspired. — John Cage Copy Share Image