John Cage Quotes

118 quotes in 1285 categories

• Why do you not do as I do? Letting go of your thoughts as though they were the cold ashes of a long dead fire? Ashes
• Value judgments are destructive to our proper business, which is curiosity and awareness. Awareness
• What I'm proposing, to myself and other people, is what I often call the tourist attitude - that you act as though you've never been… Act
• Art's purpose is to sober and quiet the mind so that it is in accord with what happens. Accord
• I certainly had no feeling for harmony, and Schoenberg thought that that would make it impossible for me to write music. He said, 'You'll come… Able
• Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school? Factories
• Now that things are so simple, there's so much to do. Funny
• Ideas are one thing and what happens is another. Funny
• In the nature of the use of chance operations is the belief that all answers answer all questions. All
• The white paintings came first; my silent piece came later. Came
• For myself and my own experience now, I don't really need any music. I have enough to listen to with just the sounds of the… Any
• Why make art ? To quiet the mind thus making it susceptible to divine influences. Art
• I don't need sound to talk to me, Inspirational
• It's useless to play lullabies for those who cannot sleep. Cannot Sleep
• In that case I will devote my life to beating my head against that wall. Beating
• Everything I see is something I haven't memorized. Funny
• One need not fear for the future of music. Fear
• Try as we may to make a silence, we cannot, Inspirational
• My work became an exploration of non-intention. Became
• After I had been studying with him for two years, Schoenberg said, ‘In order to write music, you must have a feeling for harmony.’ Â… Always Encounter

Browse John Cage Quotes by Category