--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Think about a piece of music - some great…" description: "\"Think about a piece of music - some great symphony - we don't expect it to get better as it develops, or that its whole purpose is to reach the final c..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d9/alan-watts-587_crescendo_think-about-a-piece-of-music-some-great_1242417.jpg" --- # Think about a piece of music - some great symphony - we… ![“Think about a piece of music - some great symphony - we don't expect it to get better as it develops, or that its whole purpose is to reach the final crescendo. The joy is found in listening to the music in each moment.” quote by Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d9/alan-watts-587_crescendo_think-about-a-piece-of-music-some-great_1242417.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d9/alan-watts-587_crescendo_think-about-a-piece-of-music-some-great_1242417.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d9/alan-watts-587_crescendo_think-about-a-piece-of-music-some-great_1242417.jpg) > “Think about a piece of music - some great symphony - we don't expect it to get better as it develops, or that its whole purpose is to reach the final crescendo. The joy is found in listening to the music in each moment.” [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Appreciating each moment of an experience is more valuable than focusing solely on its climax. **In simple terms:** Enjoy the present, not just the ending. Key Takeaway Live in the now. Themes mindfulness presence appreciation Mood calm reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - listening to music - watching a sunrise - reading a novel - conversational engagement Key Concepts Zen aesthetics temporal experience Questions to Reflect On - How can you practice presence in daily activities? - What moments do you overlook while chasing outcomes? A Different Perspective Neglecting the climax can make the experience feel incomplete. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Crescendo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crescendo/) [Crescendo Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crescendo-joy-3883340/) [Finals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/finals/) [Found](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/found/) [Get better](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/get-better/) [Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joy/) [Joy Listening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joy-listening-1198919/) [Listening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/listening/) [Listening Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/listening-music/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Pieces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pieces/) [Purpose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Symphony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symphony/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole/) ## Related quotes > [When you compare music, you lose the joy of listening to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-scofield/when-you-compare-music-you-lose-the-joy-of-listening-to-it/) [John Scofield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-scofield/) > [It always fascinates me how you can get so much joy listening to another person, when me, personally, I can only listen to myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-earl-beal/it-always-fascinates-me-how-you-can-get-so-much-joy-listening-to/) [Willis Earl Beal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-earl-beal/) > [The joy I get while listening to my daughter, Poonthendrel, speak is incomparable. I've listened to several other kids speak but have never enjoyed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vetrimaaran/the-joy-i-get-while-listening-to-my-daughter-poonthendrel-speak-is/) [Vetrimaaran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vetrimaaran/) > [To understand music, you must listen to it. But so long as you are thinking, “I am listening to this music,” you are not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/to-understand-music-you-must-listen-to-it-but-so-long-as-you-are/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [No one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing is to reach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/no-one-imagines-that-a-symphony-is-supposed-to-improve-as-it-goes/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Love is a wave building to a crescendo. Ride if you will, ride it with me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-buffett/love-is-a-wave-building-to-a-crescendo-ride-if-you-will-ride-it-with/) [Jimmy Buffett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-buffett/) > [“And then I kiss her, and feel her respond with equal fervour. And as I hear the music rising to a crescendo above us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucinda-riley/and-then-i-kiss-her-and-feel-her-respond-with-equal-fervour-and-as-i/) [Lucinda Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucinda-riley/) > [I felt that I really couldn't be creative with opera. You're supposed to sound this way here. You're supposed to crescendo here. You're supposed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-winston/i-felt-that-i-really-couldn-t-be-creative-with-opera-you-re-supposed/) [Alex Winston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-winston/) > [I love you,Nora. Whatever happens, promise me you'll remember that. I don't care why you came into my life,only that you did. I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/i-love-you-nora-whatever-happens-promise-me-you-ll-remember-that-i/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) > [“I'm touched, Rixon. A bomb. How elaborate. Why didn't you keep things simple and just march inside my bedroom one night and put a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/i-m-touched-rixon-a-bomb-how-elaborate-why-didn-t-you-keep-things/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) > [...five minutes from now, when everything else had dropped away and I realized the full impact of what I’d done, I’d feel my heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/five-minutes-from-now-when-everything-else-had-dropped-away-and-i/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) > [Well, within a phrase. And with a series of phrases, you can certainly create the effect of diminuendo and crescendo, no question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahan-esfahani/well-within-a-phrase-and-with-a-series-of-phrases-you-can-certainly/) [Mahan Esfahani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahan-esfahani/) > [Take the example of my daughter. A lot of people were speaking out about education when the Taliban were bombing schools in Swat Valley,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ziauddin-yousafzai/take-the-example-of-my-daughter-a-lot-of-people-were-speaking-out/) [Ziauddin Yousafzai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ziauddin-yousafzai/) > [I'm quite glad I never learned to play the guitar, because I think I'd write songs that were more classically structured. As it is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-welch/i-m-quite-glad-i-never-learned-to-play-the-guitar-because-i-think-i-d/) [Florence Welch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-welch/) > [I nibbled my lower lip. "If you could see into my past just by touching my back, you'd have a hard time resisting the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/i-nibbled-my-lower-lip-if-you-could-see-into-my-past-just-by-touching/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) ## More by Alan Watts > [“The self-conscious feedback mechanism of the cortex allows us the hallucination that we are two souls in one body -a rational soul and an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-self-conscious-feedback-mechanism-of-the-cortex-allows-us-the/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The more we try to catch hold of the present moment the more elusive it becomes. It is like trying to clutch water in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-more-we-try-to-catch-hold-of-the-present-moment-the-more-elusive/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The Universe is the game of the self, which plays hide and seek forever and ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-universe-is-the-game-of-the-self-which-plays-hide-and-seek/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [If my happiness at this moment consists largely in reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but dimly aware of this present. I shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/if-my-happiness-at-this-moment-consists-largely-in-reviewing-happy/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [...mysticism and empiricism go together in opposition to scholasticism...they base themselves on the non-linear world of experience rather than the linear world of letters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/mysticism-and-empiricism-go-together-in-opposition-to-scholasticism/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The hallucination of being a separate ego will not stand up to biological tests.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-hallucination-of-being-a-separate-ego-will-not-stand-up-to/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Although profoundly "inconsequential," the Zen experience has consequences in the sense that it may be applied in any direction, to any conceivable human activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/although-profoundly-inconsequential-the-zen-experience-has/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Everything is perpetually becoming new.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/everything-is-perpetually-becoming-new/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The psychotherapist ... tries to help the individual to be himself and to go it alone without giving unnecessary offense to his community, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-psychotherapist-tries-to-help-the-individual-to-be-himself-and-to/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [“As you make more and more powerful microscopic instruments, the universe has to get smaller and smaller in order to escape the investigation. Just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/as-you-make-more-and-more-powerful-microscopic-instruments-the/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [We are at the moment looking at space as something to be entered by the tremendous thrust of a rocket because that is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/we-are-at-the-moment-looking-at-space-as-something-to-be-entered-by/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [A philosopher is a sort of intellectual yokel who gawks at things that sensible people take for granted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/a-philosopher-is-a-sort-of-intellectual-yokel-who-gawks-at-things/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The best way to convince someone is by making him realize that what you speak came from his own mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-best-way-to-convince-someone-is-by-making-him-realize-that-what/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-myths-underlying-our-culture-and-underlying-our-common-sense-have/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [To feel that life is meaningless unless “I” can be permanent is like having fallen desperately in love with an inch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/to-feel-that-life-is-meaningless-unless-i-can-be-permanent-is-like/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) [Explore all 460 Alan Watts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) ## More Crescendo quotes > [I nibbled my lower lip. "If you could see into my past just by touching my back, you'd have a hard time resisting the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/i-nibbled-my-lower-lip-if-you-could-see-into-my-past-just-by-touching/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) > [I'm quite glad I never learned to play the guitar, because I think I'd write songs that were more classically structured. As it is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-welch/i-m-quite-glad-i-never-learned-to-play-the-guitar-because-i-think-i-d/) [Florence Welch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-welch/) > [Take the example of my daughter. A lot of people were speaking out about education when the Taliban were bombing schools in Swat Valley,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ziauddin-yousafzai/take-the-example-of-my-daughter-a-lot-of-people-were-speaking-out/) [Ziauddin Yousafzai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ziauddin-yousafzai/) > [Well, within a phrase. And with a series of phrases, you can certainly create the effect of diminuendo and crescendo, no question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahan-esfahani/well-within-a-phrase-and-with-a-series-of-phrases-you-can-certainly/) [Mahan Esfahani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahan-esfahani/) > [...five minutes from now, when everything else had dropped away and I realized the full impact of what I’d done, I’d feel my heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/five-minutes-from-now-when-everything-else-had-dropped-away-and-i/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) > [“I'm touched, Rixon. A bomb. How elaborate. Why didn't you keep things simple and just march inside my bedroom one night and put a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/i-m-touched-rixon-a-bomb-how-elaborate-why-didn-t-you-keep-things/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) > [I love you,Nora. Whatever happens, promise me you'll remember that. I don't care why you came into my life,only that you did. I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/i-love-you-nora-whatever-happens-promise-me-you-ll-remember-that-i/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) > [I felt that I really couldn't be creative with opera. You're supposed to sound this way here. You're supposed to crescendo here. You're supposed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-winston/i-felt-that-i-really-couldn-t-be-creative-with-opera-you-re-supposed/) [Alex Winston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-winston/) > [“And then I kiss her, and feel her respond with equal fervour. And as I hear the music rising to a crescendo above us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucinda-riley/and-then-i-kiss-her-and-feel-her-respond-with-equal-fervour-and-as-i/) [Lucinda Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucinda-riley/) > [Love is a wave building to a crescendo. Ride if you will, ride it with me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-buffett/love-is-a-wave-building-to-a-crescendo-ride-if-you-will-ride-it-with/) [Jimmy Buffett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-buffett/) > [Your ultimate life experience and legacy is being built moment by moment, day by day. Your story is being crafted by your every action,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brendon-burchard/your-ultimate-life-experience-and-legacy-is-being-built-moment-by/) [Brendon Burchard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brendon-burchard/) > [I see in the rising crescendo of ethnic tensions, civilization clashes and the use of religious justification for acts of terror, a clear and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-sacks/i-see-in-the-rising-crescendo-of-ethnic-tensions-civilization-clashes/) [Jonathan Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-sacks/) > [Do you know what my father used to say?" I ask her. "He used to say that songs had a heart. A crescendo that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-destefano/do-you-know-what-my-father-used-to-say-i-ask-her-he-used-to-say-that/) [Lauren DeStefano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-destefano/) > [It grabs me, but not as much as it grabs some of the other people that rave about them. With the Black Keys, I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-nugent/it-grabs-me-but-not-as-much-as-it-grabs-some-of-the-other-people-that/) [Ted Nugent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-nugent/) > [Working from home meant we could vary snack and coffee breaks, change our desks or view, goof off, drink on the job, even spend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/working-from-home-meant-we-could-vary-snack-and-coffee-breaks-change/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) [Browse all 52 Crescendo quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crescendo/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Think about a piece of music - some great symphony - we don't expect it to get better as it develops, or that its whole purpose is to reach the final crescendo. 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