What is the purpose of writing music? One is, of course, not dealing with purposes but dealing with sounds. Or the answer… — John Cage Copy Share Image
After I had been studying with him for two years, Schoenberg said, ‘In order to write music, you must have a feeling… — John Cage Copy Share Image
“I want my writing to be as clear as water I can see through so that what I experienced is told without… — John Cage Copy Share Image
Paper should be edible, nutritious. Inks used for printing or writing should have delicious flavors. Magazines or newspapers read at breakfast should… — John Cage Copy Share Image
When I went to the analyst for a kind of preliminary meeting, he said, 'I'll be able to fix you so that… — John Cage Copy Share Image
I certainly had no feeling for harmony, and Schoenberg thought that that would make it impossible for me to write music. He… — John Cage Copy Share Image
One day when I was studying with Schoenberg, he pointed out the eraser on his pencil and said, 'This end is more… — John Cage Copy Share Image
My favourite music is the music I haven't yet heard. I don't hear the music I write: I write in order to… — 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
