All art really does is keep you focused on questions of humanity, and it really is about how do we get on with our maker.
David BowieRead
Searching for music is like searching for God. They're very similar. There's an effort to reclaim the unmentionable, the unsayable, the unseeable, the unspeakable, all those things, comes into being a composer and to writing music and to searching for notes and pieces of musical information that don't exist.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The pursuit of music and spirituality both involve a deep search for the intangible and profound.
David Bowie's quote suggests that the quest for musical creativity parallels the search for spiritual meaning. Both pursuits require an effort to tap into the deeper aspects of existence—the unmentionable and mysterious elements that shape our understanding of life and art. Composers, much like seekers of spirituality, strive to bring to light those elements that are often hard to express or comprehend.
Themes
MusicGodCreativitySpiritualitySearch
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of creativity, you might quote Bowie to inspire musicians.
More from David Bowie
All quotes →I guess, taking away all the theatrics or the costuming and the outer layers of what I do, I'm a writer... I write.
David BowieRead
I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.
David BowieRead
Nothing prepared me for your smile
David BowieRead
But I've got to think of myself as the luckiest guy. Robert Johnson only had one album's worth of work as his legacy. That's all that life allowed him.
David BowieRead
I'm an early riser. I get up between five and six, have coffee, and read for a couple of hours before everyone else gets up.
David BowieRead
Similar quotes
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Paul StrandRead
My idea of art is, you write something that makes people feel so strongly that they get some conviction about who they want to be or what they want to do. It's morally useful not in a political way, but it makes your heart bigger; it's emotionally and spiritually empowering.
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My plays are ultimately about love, honor, duty, betrayal.
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When things get tough, this is what you should do: Make good art. I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician -- make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by a mutated boa constrictor -- make good art. IRS on your trail -- make good art. Cat exploded -- make good art. Someone on the Internet thinks what you're doing is stupid or evil or it's all been done before -- make good art.
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Photography is a very lonely medium. There’s a kind of beautiful loneliness in voyeurism. And that’s why I’m a photographer.
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Real people move, they bear with them the element of time. It is this fourth dimension of people that I try to capture in a photograph.
Richard AvedonRead