"What is the purpose of writing music? One……" — John Cage

"What is the purpose of writing music? One is, of course, not dealing with purposes but dealing with sounds. Or the answer must take the form of a paradox: a purposeful purposeless or a purposeless play. This play, however, is an affirmation of life--not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we’re living, which is so excellent once one gets one’s mind and one’s desires out of its way and lets it act of its own accord."

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113 Quotes by John Cage

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More Accord Quotes

This quote is filed under Accord Quotes, one of 295 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:

If I decide to be an idiot, then I'll be an idiot on my own accord. — Johann Sebastian Bach
Celibacy is not a matter of compulsion. Someone is accepted as a priest only when he does it of his… — Pope Benedict XVI
The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner… — John Cage
When we look back, the only things we cherish are those which in some way met our original want; the… — Willa Cather
We do not draw conclusions with our eyes, but with our reasoning powers, and if the whole of the rest… — August Weismann
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Notice carefully every word here. It is not our prayer which draws Jesus into our hearts. Nor is it our… — Ole Hallesby
From the day of Pentecost until the present time, it has been necessary to be of one accord in prayer… — John Mott
I trust there are none here present, who profess to be followers of Christ who do not also practice prayer… — Charles Spurgeon
This country can have no more democracy than it accords and guarantees to the humblest and weakest citizen. — James Weldon Johnson
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