It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.
Johannes BrahmsRead
The idea comes to me from outside of me - and is like a gift. I then take the idea and make it my own - that is where the skill lies.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creativity is a collaborative process between inspiration and personal skill.
Johannes Brahms emphasizes that ideas often arrive from external sources, perceived as gifts of inspiration. However, the true artistry and proficiency come into play when one takes those ideas and transforms them into a personal expression, highlighting the importance of individual skill in the creative process.
Themes
CreativityInspirationArtistrySkillPersonal Expression
In practice
Example use cases
In an art workshop, I shared Brahms' quote to inspire budding artists to embrace the creative process.
More from Johannes Brahms
All quotes →We cling nervously to the melody, but we don't handle it freely, we don't really make anything new out of it, we merely overload it.
Johannes BrahmsRead
Composers in the old days used to keep strictly to the base of the theme, as their real subject. Beethoven varies the melody, harmony and rhythms so beautifully.
Johannes BrahmsRead
Those are miracles that no merely human brain can work. The artist is merely the sound conduct of a Force that dictates to him what he should do.
Johannes BrahmsRead
The fact that most people do not understand and respect the very best things, such as Mozart's concertos, is what permits men like us to become famous.
Johannes BrahmsRead
Study Bach. There you will find everything.
Johannes BrahmsRead
Similar quotes
When you are painting you should take a flat mirror and often look at your work within it, and it will then be seen in reverse, and will appear to be by the hand of some other master, and you will be better able to judge of its faults than in any other way.
Leonardo Da VinciRead
I believe, in a funny way, the job of the novelist is to be out there on the fringes and speaking for an experience that has not really been spoken for.
Donna TarttRead
Art has always had as its test in the long term the ability to speak to our innermost selves.
Bill ViolaRead
I've been searching for a genre that would be most adequate to my vision of the world to convey how my ear hears and my eyes see life. I tried this and that, and finally, I chose a genre where human voices speak for themselves. But I don't just record a dry history of events and facts; I'm writing a history of human feelings.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
My music has been a sort of personal therapy. It's got me out of tough times, it has been the friend that I needed, when I didn't have a friend there.
Trent ReznorRead
Theatre for a New Audience is one of America's most admirable and exciting theatre companites...some of the best acted and directed work to be found on American stages, engaging with the canon of world dramatic literature in a vigorous way.
Tony KushnerRead