You can't kill the past by denying the past. You can kill it only by making it obsolete. And even in that, you have to find honor in the past. You can't hack off pieces of yourself, and expect them to grow again.
Jeff BuckleyRead
Music is my mother and my father; it is my work and my rest...my blood...my compass...my love.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Music is a fundamental and integral part of the speaker's life, shaping their identity and experiences.
In this quote, Jeff Buckley expresses the profound impact that music has on his existence. He personifies music as a parental figure, suggesting that it nurtures his spirit and guides his life. It is both a source of labor and solace, emphasizing how deeply intertwined music is with his sense of self, passion, and direction in life.
Themes
MusicIdentityPassionLifeArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the power of art, one could say: 'As Jeff Buckley once said, music is my mother and my father; it shapes who I am.'
More from Jeff Buckley
All quotes βI became a human jukebox, learning all these songs I'd always known, discovering the basics of what I do. The cathartic part was in the essential act of singing. When is it that the voice becomes an elixir? It's during flirting, courtship, sex. Music's all that.
Jeff BuckleyRead
Critics... They're like traffic cops. They say what they have to say, then leave, and another guy moves in ,and he has his say - and it's often just the opposite. The result is either critical acclaim or critical murder, and neither has any bearing on my music or direction.
Jeff BuckleyRead
Grace is what matters. In anything. Especially life, especially growth, tragedy, pain, love, death. About people, that's what matters. That's a quality I admire very greatly. It keeps you from reaching for the gun too quickly; it keeps you from destroying things too foolishly; it sort of keeps you alive and keeps you open for more understanding.
Jeff BuckleyRead
I've always felt that the quality of the voice is where the real content of a song lies. Words only suggest an experience, but the voice is that experience.
Jeff BuckleyRead
I don't see people. I don't see men and women at all. When I see them, I see... their mothers and fathers. I see how old they are inside. Like when I look at the president, or anybody in a record company, or a store owner, I may see a little boy behind the counter with the face of an old man. And that's who I talk to.
Jeff BuckleyRead
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What are our conductors giving us year after year? Only fresh corpses. Over these beautifully embalmed sonatas, toccatas, symphonies and operas the public dance the jitterbug. Night and day without let the radio drowns us in a hog-wash of the most nauseating, sentimental ditties. From the churches comes the melancholy dirge of the dead Christ, a music which is no more sacred than a rotten turnip.
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Thank your readers and the critics who praise you, and then ignore them. Write for the most intelligent, wittiest, wisest audience in the universe: Write to please yourself.
Harlan EllisonRead
Architects, sculptors painters, we all must return to the crafts! For art is not a 'profession.' There is no essential difference between the artist and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman.
Walter GropiusRead
When she started to play, Steinway came down personally and rubbed his name off the piano.
Bob HopeRead