Composing Quotes

143 quotes by 132 authors

Composing for the prepared piano is not a criticism of the instrument. I'm only being practical. — John Cage
Composing a concert is like composing a menu.... If you start with light pieces and play a 45-minute sonata after the interlude, it's like starting… — Arthur Rubinstein
However, I began composing as soon as I started taking piano lessons. — Gyorgy Ligeti
I was in Paris at an English-language bookstore. I picked up a volume of Dickinson's poetry. I came back to my hotel, read 2,000 of… — Gordon Getty
Composing computer programs to solve scientific problems is like writing poetry. You must choose every word with care and link it with the other words… — James Lovelock
You might lose your spontaneity and, instead of composing first-rate Gershwin, end up with second rate Ravel. — Maurice Ravel
We tend to think and feel in terms of the art we like; and if the art we like is bad then our thinking and… — Aldous Huxley
Composing a piece of music is very feminine. It is sensitive, emotional, contemplative. By comparison, doing housework is positively masculine. — Barbara Kolb
When we are writing, or painting, or composing, we are, during the time of creativity, freed from normal restrictions, and are opened to a wider… — Madeleine L'Engle
The several states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government — Thomas Jefferson
There are people who must spend huge amounts of time composing these online diatribes against me, all about how disgusting and terrible I am and… — Poppy Z. Brite
Composing gives me great pleasure... there is nothing that surpasses the joy of creation, if only because through it one wins hours of self-forgetfulness, when… — Clara Schumann
Writing is the action of thinking, just as drawing is the action of seeing and composing music is the action of hearing. — Brenda Ueland
I was...attacked for being a pasticheur, chided for composing "simple" music, blamed for deserting "modernism," accused of renouncing my "true Russian heritage." People who had… — Igor Stravinsky
The act of listening is in fact an act of composing. — John Cage
The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can economically and scientifically rewarding, but also because it… — Donald Knuth
I try not to observe myself in the process of composing a poem because I don't want to come up with a formula, which I… — Thom Gunn
The walking of passers-by offers a series of turns and detours that can be compared to "turns of phrase" or "stylistic figures." There is a… — Michel de Certeau
I don't hate work, composing is not work for me, it's my pleasure; it's my life. So why should I stop? If something is pleasurable… — Gunther Schuller
Being in the studio is okay but sitting in a room by yourself composing is a discipline that takes a certain type of mind set… — James Young

Who Wrote These Composing Quotes

132 authors contributed a total of 143 Composing Quotes, led by these top contributors: