Nadia Boulanger

Nothing is better than music; when it takes us out of time, it has done more for us than we have the…

— Nadia Boulanger

Do nothing for effect. Do it for truth.

— Nadia Boulanger

A great work of art is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty

— Nadia Boulanger

Do not take up music unless you would rather die than not do so.

— Nadia Boulanger

It is one thing to be gifted and quite another thing to be worthy of one's own gift.

— Nadia Boulanger

As far as the execution is concerned ... the most frequent and most serious mistake is to follow the music instead of…

— Nadia Boulanger

I adore tradition. I cannot stand habit. Simply to repeat is nothing, also to destroy is nothing. Tradition is never interrupted, we…

— Nadia Boulanger

The history of harmony is the history of the development of the human ear, which has gradually assimilated, in their natural order,…

— Nadia Boulanger

In music everything is prolonged, everything is edified, and when the enchantment has ceased, we are still bathed in its clarity; solitude…

— Nadia Boulanger

To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them.

— Nadia Boulanger

A great work is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty.

— Nadia Boulanger

You should never listen to someone practice. That is their work and theirs alone.

— Nadia Boulanger

Great art likes chains. The greatest artists have created art within bounds. Or else they have created their own chains.

— Nadia Boulanger

Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.

— Nadia Boulanger

Art is not emotion. Art is the medium in which emotion is expressed.

— Nadia Boulanger

Without order there can be no inner satisfaction. Without inner satisfaction there can be no freedom. Without freedom there is no joy.

— Nadia Boulanger

The art of music is so deep and profound that to approach it very seriously only is not enough. One must approach…

— Nadia Boulanger

False notes can be forgiven, false music cannot.

— Nadia Boulanger

Words created divergencies between beings, because their precise meanings put an opinion around the idea. Music only retains the highest and purest…

— Nadia Boulanger

The great conductor is always a despot by temperament and intractable in his ways. ... The artist is obliged to keep his…

— Nadia Boulanger

[On being asked how it felt to be the first female conductor of the Boston Symphony:] I've been a woman for a…

— Nadia Boulanger

[On the music of Richard Strauss:] Too many notes!

— Nadia Boulanger

The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love, passion.

— Nadia Boulanger

I've been a woman for a little over 50 years and have gotten over my initial astonishment. As for conducting an orchestra,…

— Nadia Boulanger

It is easier to analyze a work in its form, in its evolution, than simply to love it with all the living…

— Nadia Boulanger