--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If this word \"music\" is sacred and…" description: "\"If this word \"music\" is sacred and reserved for eighteenth and nineteenth century instruments, we can substitute a more meaningful term: organization o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a47/john-cage-2094_century_if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserve_2624719.png" --- # If this word "music" is sacred and reserved for eighteenth… ![“If this word "music" is sacred and reserved for eighteenth and nineteenth century instruments, we can substitute a more meaningful term: organization of sound.” quote by John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a47/john-cage-2094_century_if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserve_2624719.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a47/john-cage-2094_century_if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserve_2624719.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a47/john-cage-2094_century_if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserve_2624719.png) > “If this word "music" is sacred and reserved for eighteenth and nineteenth century instruments, we can substitute a more meaningful term: organization of sound.” [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Argues that "music" should be broadened to any organized sound, breaking traditional instrument constraints. **In simple terms:** Music = organized sound, not just instruments. Key Takeaway Embrace all sounds as musical expression. Themes music definition sound art creativity Mood creative inspirational experimental Type philosophical artistic When to use this quote - composition - sound design - experimental performance Key Concepts Aesthetics acoustic theory cultural perception Questions to Reflect On - What non‑instrument sounds inspire you? - How can you expand your musical palette? A Different Perspective Traditional definitions can restrict innovation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Inspirational music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational-music/) [Meaningful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaningful/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Music making](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-making/) [Nineteenth century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nineteenth-century/) [Organization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organization/) [Piano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/piano/) [Sacred](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacred/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Sound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sound/) ## Related quotes > [When I seek another word for 'music', I never find any other word than 'Venice'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/when-i-seek-another-word-for-music-i-never-find-any-other-word-than/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The word music is a convenient way to talk about what I'm interested in, but actually, in some ways, it's a limitation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-braxton/the-word-music-is-a-convenient-way-to-talk-about-what-i-m-interested/) [Anthony Braxton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-braxton/) > [“I may not take my clothes seriously. I may not have brushed or even washed my hair today. But I pronounce the word ‘music’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainbow-rowell/i-may-not-take-my-clothes-seriously-i-may-not-have-brushed-or-even/) [Rainbow Rowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainbow-rowell/) > [Music and text have several commonalities, and one is meter and rhythm. Both spoken word and music have certain regularities, and they can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-britting/music-and-text-have-several-commonalities-and-one-is-meter-and-rhythm/) [Jeff Britting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-britting/) > [Music is just a word for something we love largely because it consists of things that words can't express. Likewise, the heart is just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-james-duncan/music-is-just-a-word-for-something-we-love-largely-because-it/) [David James Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-james-duncan/) > [Wilderness. The word itself is music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/wilderness-the-word-itself-is-music/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [In the music business I am surrounded by people who don't view music as a sacred voice. They view music as something that they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-corgan/in-the-music-business-i-am-surrounded-by-people-who-don-t-view-music/) [Billy Corgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-corgan/) > [I consider music to be very sacred and I feel I'm blessed to be born with a talent which allows me to make the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shreya-ghoshal/i-consider-music-to-be-very-sacred-and-i-feel-i-m-blessed-to-be-born/) [Shreya Ghoshal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shreya-ghoshal/) > [What we call music in our everyday language is only a miniature, which our intelligence has grasped from that music or harmony of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hazrat-inayat-khan/what-we-call-music-in-our-everyday-language-is-only-a-miniature-which/) [Hazrat Inayat Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hazrat-inayat-khan/) > [Music is either sacred or secular. The sacred agrees with its dignity, and here has its greatest effect on life, an effect that remains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/music-is-either-sacred-or-secular-the-sacred-agrees-with-its-dignity/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Ah, music, sacred tongue of God! I hear thee calling and I come.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/ah-music-sacred-tongue-of-god-i-hear-thee-calling-and-i-come/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [Music, for me, is the most sacred of the arts. I say that because music communicates in a way that no other art form…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-stokes-mitchell/music-for-me-is-the-most-sacred-of-the-arts-i-say-that-because-music/) [Brian Stokes Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-stokes-mitchell/) > [Sweet music! sacred tongue of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-godfrey-leland/sweet-music-sacred-tongue-of-god/) [Charles Godfrey Leland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-godfrey-leland/) > [Music is a sacred, a divine, a God-like thing, and was given to man by Christ to lift our hearts up to God, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-kingsley/music-is-a-sacred-a-divine-a-god-like-thing-and-was-given-to-man-by/) [Charles Kingsley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-kingsley/) > [Making music is so spiritual. I'm not a spiritual person, but music is sacred to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-parker/making-music-is-so-spiritual-i-m-not-a-spiritual-person-but-music-is/) [Kevin Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-parker/) ## More by John Cage > [If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/if-something-is-boring-after-two-minutes-try-it-for-four-if-still/) [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) > [ It was at Harvard not quite forty years ago that I went into an anechoic \[totally silent\] chamber not expecting in that silent room… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/it-was-at-harvard-not-quite-forty-years-ago-that-i-went-into-an/) [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) > [So somebody has talent? So what? Dime a dozen. And we're overpopulated. Actually we have more food than we have people and more art.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/so-somebody-has-talent-so-what-dime-a-dozen-and-we-re-overpopulated/) [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) > [“...the important questions are answered by not liking only but disliking and accepting equally what one likes and dislikes. Otherwise there is no access…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/the-important-questions-are-answered-by-not-liking-only-but-disliking/) [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) > [The material of music is sound and silence. 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But if you work at your art you don't have time to be inspired.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/people-who-aren-t-artists-often-feel-that-artists-are-inspired-but-if/) [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) > [“Farting, don't think, just fart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/farting-don-t-think-just-fart/) [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) > [Not one sound fears the silence that extinguishes it. And no silence exists that is not pregnant with sound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/not-one-sound-fears-the-silence-that-extinguishes-it-and-no-silence/) [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) > [My work became an exploration of non-intention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/my-work-became-an-exploration-of-non-intention/) [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) [Explore all 186 John Cage quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) ## More Century quotes > [I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-always-that-i-am-an-outsider-a-stranger-in-this-century-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [Anybody looking for a quiet life has picked the wrong century to born in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/anybody-looking-for-a-quiet-life-has-picked-the-wrong-century-to-born/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/) [David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Talented people can predict with great accuracy what's about to happen just a tiny bit ahead of their competitors. It might be two seconds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-maney/talented-people-can-predict-with-great-accuracy-what-s-about-to/) [Kevin Maney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-maney/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-nineteenth-century-lynching-mob-cuts-off-ears-toes-and-fingers/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [At no time in the past century has public distrust of the government been so broadly distributed across the political spectrum, as it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-zimmermann/at-no-time-in-the-past-century-has-public-distrust-of-the-government/) [Phil Zimmermann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-zimmermann/) > [While husbands and lovers in the stories are of all kinds, ranging from sympathetic to disgusting, women are invariably deceivers: inconstant, unscrupulous, quarrelsome, querulous,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/while-husbands-and-lovers-in-the-stories-are-of-all-kinds-ranging/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [The young people today are the 21st century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-scorsese/the-young-people-today-are-the-21st-century/) [Martin Scorsese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-scorsese/) > [The wisdom of our actions in the first three years of peace will determine the course of world history for half a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-wallace/the-wisdom-of-our-actions-in-the-first-three-years-of-peace-will/) [Henry A. Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-wallace/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [In a general way, the literature of the twentieth century is essentially psychological; and psychology consists of describing states of the soul by displaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/in-a-general-way-the-literature-of-the-twentieth-century-is/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [Consequently, citizen legislators, rotating back to their communities after a short period of public service—considered an indispensable and routine characteristic and design of representative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/consequently-citizen-legislators-rotating-back-to-their-communities/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) Browse all 5,406 Century quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If this word \"music\" is sacred and reserved for eighteenth and nineteenth century instruments, we can substitute a more meaningful term: organization of sound.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Cage" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserved-for-eighteenth-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Century" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserved-for-eighteenth-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a47/john-cage-2094_century_if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserve_2624719.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a47/john-cage-2094_century_if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserve_2624719.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a47/john-cage-2094_century_if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserve_2624719.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If this word \"music\" is sacred and reserved for eighteenth and nineteenth century instruments, we can…” — John Cage", "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": "John Cage", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If this word \"music\" is sacred...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserved-for-eighteenth-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/if-this-word-music-is-sacred-and-reserved-for-eighteenth-and/#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 } } ] } ```