If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.
Dmitri ShostakovichRead
I write music, it’s performed. After all, my music says it all. It doesn’t need historical and hysterical commentaries. In the long run, any words about music are less important than the music.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Music speaks for itself and transcends verbal explanations.
Dmitri Shostakovich emphasizes the intrinsic value and power of music, suggesting that it conveys emotions and ideas more effectively than any analysis or commentary could. He believes that the essence of music lies in its ability to communicate directly with the listener, making any verbal interpretation secondary to the experience of the music itself.
Themes
MusicExpressionImportanceArtCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
During a music appreciation class, to emphasize the power of music over words.
More from Dmitri Shostakovich
All quotes →What you have in your head, put down on paper. The head is a fragile vessel.
Dmitri ShostakovichRead
When a man is in despair, it means that he still believes in something.
Dmitri ShostakovichRead
Real music is always revolutionary, for it cements the ranks of the people; it arouses them and leads them onward.
Dmitri ShostakovichRead
The best way to hold on to something is to pay no attention to it. The things you love too much perish. You have to treat everything with irony, especially the things you hold dear. There's more of a chance then that they'll survive.
Dmitri ShostakovichRead
Football is the ballet of the masses.
Dmitri ShostakovichRead
Similar quotes
There's racist casting, and there is normal casting. Normal casting, to me, is a process that strives for representation and, in many cases, strives to simply portray the world as it actually is instead of as falsely non-inclusive. And sadly, sometimes that involves removing the whitewash that exists on history.
Shonda RhimesRead
Something in me knows where I’m going, and - well, painting is a state of being. ... Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.
Jackson PollockRead
When I design buildings, I think of the overall composition, much as the parts of a body would fit together. On top of that, I think about how people will approach the building and experience that space.
Tadao AndoRead
All great films are a resolution of a conflict between darkness and light. There is no single right way to express yourself. There are infinite possibilities for the use of light with shadows and colors. The decisions you make about composition, movement and the countless combinations of these and other variables is what makes it an art.
Vittorio StoraroRead
When asked how she knows when her writing is where she wants it to be: "I know when it's the best I can do. It may not be the best there is. Another writer may do it much better. But I know when it's the best I can do. I know that one of the great arts that the writer develops is the art of saying, 'No. No, I'm finished. Bye.' And leaving it alone. I will not write it into the ground. I will not write the life out of it. I won't do that."
Maya AngelouRead
Perfumes are the feelings of flowers.
Heinrich HeineRead