--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Since music is the only language with the…" description: "\"Since music is the only language with the contradictory attributes of being intelligible and untranslatable, the musical creator is a being comparable ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/640/claude-levi-strauss-8995_attributes_since-music-is-the-only-language-with-th_2353547.jpg" --- # Since music is the only language with the contradictory… ![“Since music is the only language with the contradictory attributes of being intelligible and untranslatable, the musical creator is a being comparable to the gods, and music itself the supreme mystery of the science of man.” quote by Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/640/claude-levi-strauss-8995_attributes_since-music-is-the-only-language-with-th_2353547.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/640/claude-levi-strauss-8995_attributes_since-music-is-the-only-language-with-th_2353547.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/640/claude-levi-strauss-8995_attributes_since-music-is-the-only-language-with-th_2353547.jpg) > “Since music is the only language with the contradictory attributes of being intelligible and untranslatable, the musical creator is a being comparable to the gods, and music itself the supreme mystery of the science of man.” [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Music uniquely blends clarity and mystery, placing its creator near divine status and making music a profound human mystery. **In simple terms:** Music is clear yet untranslatable, a divine mystery. Key Takeaway Explore music’s paradoxical nature. Themes music creativity divinity Mood wonderful reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - composition - music education - cultural analysis Key Concepts aesthetics anthropology Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of music feel most mysterious to you? - How does music express what words cannot? A Different Perspective Music’s abstract nature can be hard to articulate or teach. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Attributes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attributes/) [Contradictory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradictory/) [Creator](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creator/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Language Contradictory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-contradictory-1480819/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Music is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-is/) [Music Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-language/) [Musical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/musical/) [Musical Creator](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/musical-creator-5737354/) [Mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystery/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Supreme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supreme/) [Untranslatable Musical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/untranslatable-musical-5737353/) ## Related quotes > [There is yet another kind of matrimonial dialect (which naturally succeeds this of talking at each other), which may very properlybe styled The Language…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-fielding/there-is-yet-another-kind-of-matrimonial-dialect-which-naturally/) [Sarah Fielding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-fielding/) > [Music is a language by whose means messages are elaborated, that such messages can be understood by the many but sent out only by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/music-is-a-language-by-whose-means-messages-are-elaborated-that-such/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [The attributes you need to be a travel writer are somewhat contradictory. For travel you need to be tough and resilient and to write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-thubron/the-attributes-you-need-to-be-a-travel-writer-are-somewhat/) [Colin Thubron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-thubron/) > [When you play music, you don't need a language. Music is a language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharmeen-obaid-chinoy/when-you-play-music-you-don-t-need-a-language-music-is-a-language/) [Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharmeen-obaid-chinoy/) > [For me, music is always the language which permits one to converse with the Beyond.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-me-music-is-always-the-language-which-permits-one-to-converse/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Music is the language of heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/levon-helm/music-is-the-language-of-heaven/) [Levon Helm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/levon-helm/) > [You have to be ready, and also you have to discard notions that are fondly held by a lot of musicians, about sequences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-garcia/you-have-to-be-ready-and-also-you-have-to-discard-notions-that-are/) [Jerry Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-garcia/) > [Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/music-is-the-language-of-the-spirit-it-opens-the-secret-of-life/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Music in Africa is perceived so differently than Western classical music - it's language and storytelling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-goransson/music-in-africa-is-perceived-so-differently-than-western-classical/) [Ludwig Goransson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-goransson/) > [One of the most important differences I see between prose and poetry is the music of the language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pattiann-rogers/one-of-the-most-important-differences-i-see-between-prose-and-poetry/) [Pattiann Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pattiann-rogers/) > [Music is the language of the heart, and conservatives always screw it up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-beck/music-is-the-language-of-the-heart-and-conservatives-always-screw-it/) [Glenn Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-beck/) > [Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-erskine/music-is-the-only-language-in-which-you-cannot-say-a-mean-or/) [John Erskine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-erskine/) > [Music and language are a vital element. We, as actors and directors, offer it to people who want to experience it. Sometimes the actual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-branagh/music-and-language-are-a-vital-element-we-as-actors-and-directors/) [Kenneth Branagh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-branagh/) > [“Music is the language of memory”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/music-is-the-language-of-memory/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [What is music? Music is language. A human being wants to express ideas in this language, but not ideas that can be translated into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-webern/what-is-music-music-is-language-a-human-being-wants-to-express-ideas/) [Anton Webern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-webern/) ## More by Claude Levi-Strauss > [Our students wanted to know everything: but only the newest theory seemed to them worth bothering with. Knowing nothing of the intellectual achievements of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/our-students-wanted-to-know-everything-but-only-the-newest-theory/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [While I complain of being able to glimpse no more than the shadow of the past, I may be insensitive to reality as it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/while-i-complain-of-being-able-to-glimpse-no-more-than-the-shadow-of/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Civilization has ceased to be that delicate flower which was preserved and painstakingly cultivated in one or two sheltered areas of a soil rich…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/civilization-has-ceased-to-be-that-delicate-flower-which-was/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [These facts make the creator of music a being like the gods, and make music itself the supreme mystery of human knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/these-facts-make-the-creator-of-music-a-being-like-the-gods-and-make/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Being human signifies, for each one of us, belonging to a class, a society, a country, a continent and a civilization; and for us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/being-human-signifies-for-each-one-of-us-belonging-to-a-class-a/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [“For mile after mile the same melodic phrase rose up in my memory. I simply couldn’t get free of it. Each time it had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/for-mile-after-mile-the-same-melodic-phrase-rose-up-in-my-memory-i/) [Claude Lévi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Anthropology found its Galileo in Rivers, its Newton in Mauss.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/anthropology-found-its-galileo-in-rivers-its-newton-in-mauss/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/the-scientist-is-not-a-person-who-gives-the-right-answers-he-is-one/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Natural man did not precede society, nor is he outside it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/natural-man-did-not-precede-society-nor-is-he-outside-it/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [“For everything is history: What was said yesterday is history, what was said a minute ago is history. But, above all, one is led…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/for-everything-is-history-what-was-said-yesterday-is-history-what-was/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [In the old days, people used to risk their lives in India or in the Americas in order to bring back products which now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/in-the-old-days-people-used-to-risk-their-lives-in-india-or-in-the/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [The musical emotion springs precisely from the fact that at each moment the composer withholds or adds more or less than the listener anticipates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/the-musical-emotion-springs-precisely-from-the-fact-that-at-each/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Scientific knowledge advances haltingly and is stimulated by contention and doubt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/scientific-knowledge-advances-haltingly-and-is-stimulated-by/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Understanding arises from reducing one type of reality into another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/understanding-arises-from-reducing-one-type-of-reality-into-another/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [All the essentials of humanity's artistic treasures can be found in New York.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/all-the-essentials-of-humanity-s-artistic-treasures-can-be-found-in/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) [Explore all 62 Claude Levi-Strauss quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) ## More Attributes quotes > [Lutherans, whose arguments and mistakes will not be difficult to contest or discover, do not want to attribute any value to works, and they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-servetus/lutherans-whose-arguments-and-mistakes-will-not-be-difficult-to/) [Michael Servetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-servetus/) > [If, for instance, they have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to a semi-official statement; if they have fallen into conversation with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/if-for-instance-they-have-heard-something-from-the-postman-they/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I think the greatest imagination we can exercise is one that imagines how someone else feels. Because you know how you feel, but so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-gelbart/i-think-the-greatest-imagination-we-can-exercise-is-one-that-imagines/) [Larry Gelbart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-gelbart/) > [A lover asked his beloved, Do you love yourself more than you love me? Beloved replied, I have died to myself and I live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-lover-asked-his-beloved-do-you-love-yourself-more-than-you-love-me/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One of the greatest attributes of jazz, I think, is that it is that open.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbie-hancock/one-of-the-greatest-attributes-of-jazz-i-think-is-that-it-is-that-open/) [Herbie Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbie-hancock/) > [God is compassionate and just, loving and holy, wrathful and forgiving. WE can't sideline His more difficult attributes to make room for the palatable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-chan/god-is-compassionate-and-just-loving-and-holy-wrathful-and-forgiving/) [Francis Chan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-chan/) > [I'm Irish and always will be, but America has taught me so much. Maybe it's here in the U.S. that we find a healing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fionnula-flanagan/i-m-irish-and-always-will-be-but-america-has-taught-me-so-much-maybe/) [Fionnula Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fionnula-flanagan/) > [“It is this spirit of godliness that will bring forth the attributes, the principles and the life style of godliness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/it-is-this-spirit-of-godliness-that-will-bring-forth-the-attributes/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [My Calvinism persuades me that we are open to God, in the sense that we are not delimited, not organisms with fixed attributes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/my-calvinism-persuades-me-that-we-are-open-to-god-in-the-sense-that/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [A pivotal spiritual attribute is that of self-mastery-th e strength to place reason over appetite. 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I just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-wilbon/if-i-have-any-attribute-that-serves-me-well-it-s-i-don-t-have-a-long/) [Michael Wilbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-wilbon/) [Browse all 852 Attributes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attributes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Since music is the only language with the contradictory attributes of being intelligible and untranslatable, the musical creator is a being comparable to the gods, and music itself the supreme mystery of the science of man.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Claude Levi-Strauss" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/since-music-is-the-only-language-with-the-contradictory-attributes-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Attributes" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/since-music-is-the-only-language-with-the-contradictory-attributes-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/640/claude-levi-strauss-8995_attributes_since-music-is-the-only-language-with-th_2353547.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/640/claude-levi-strauss-8995_attributes_since-music-is-the-only-language-with-th_2353547.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/640/claude-levi-strauss-8995_attributes_since-music-is-the-only-language-with-th_2353547.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Since music is the only language with the contradictory attributes of being intelligible and untranslatable…” — Claude Levi-Strauss", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Claude Levi-Strauss", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Since music is the only language...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/since-music-is-the-only-language-with-the-contradictory-attributes-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/since-music-is-the-only-language-with-the-contradictory-attributes-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```