My chief virtue (or if you like, defect) has been a tireless lifelong search for an original, individual musical idiom. I detest imitation, I detest hackneyed devices.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the value of originality and the rejection of imitation in artistic expression.
Sergei Prokofiev emphasizes the importance of striving for a unique and personal musical style throughout his life. He expresses a strong aversion to imitation and clichΓ©d methods, highlighting that true artistic integrity comes from individual creativity and the continuous search for one's own voice in music.
In practice
In a speech about innovation at a music festival.
In my view, the composer,_x000D_ just as the poet, the sculptor or the painter,_x000D_ is in duty bound to serve Man, the people._x000D_ He must beautify life and defend it._x000D_ He must be a citizen first and foremost,_x000D_ so that his art might consciously extol human life_x000D_ and lead man to a radiant future.
For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography.
The original writer is not he who refrains from imitating others, but he who can be imitated by none.
The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.
Without music, life would be a mistake.
I feel the need of attaining the maximum of intensity with the minimum of means. It is this which has led me to give my painting a character of even greater bareness.
Artists, musicians, scientists - if you have any kind of visionary aptitude, it's often something that you don't have a choice in. You have to do it.
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