QuoteProject
I carry my thoughts about me for a long time, often a very long time, before I write them down; meanwhile my memory is so faithful that I am sure never to forget, not even in years, a theme that has once occurred to me.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of reflection and memory in the creative process.

Ludwig van Beethoven highlights the significance of contemplation and the power of memory in the artistry of writing. He suggests that he holds onto thoughts for extended periods, allowing them to mature before committing them to paper, underscoring the thoughtful nature of true creativity and the trust he places in his enduring memory.

Themes

CreativityMemoryReflectionThoughtsWriting

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be shared during a creative writing workshop to encourage participants to embrace the time it takes to refine their thoughts.

More from Ludwig Van Beethoven

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.
Ludwig Van BeethovenRead
I alter some things, eliminate and try again until I am satisfied. Then begins the mental working out of this material in its breadth, its narrowness, its height and depth.
Ludwig Van BeethovenRead
Often, I can scarcely hear any one speaking to me; the tones yes, but not the actual words; yet as soon as any one shouts, it is unbearable. What will come of all this, heaven only knows!
Ludwig Van BeethovenRead
Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken.
Ludwig Van BeethovenRead
Recommend virtue to your children; it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience.
Ludwig Van BeethovenRead
I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose.
Ludwig Van BeethovenRead

Similar quotes

I'm enamored with the art world. Anytime you look at anything that's considered artistic, there's a commercial world around it: the ballet, opera, any kind of music. It can't exist without it.
Steve MartinRead
The thing is, as a film director, you're essentially alone: You have to tell a story primarily through pictures, and only you know the film you see in your head.
Mike NicholsRead
How do you project a character if you don't have a sense of where she is from? I've always just gotten on a plane to go to the area to get a sense of what it is like, to smell it, feel the earth, hear people talk, go to the marketplaces.
Cicely TysonRead
Clearly the hardest thing for the working artist is to create his own conception and follow it, unafraid of the strictures it imposes, however rigid these may be... I see it as the clearest evidence of genius when an artist follows his conception, his idea, his principle, so unswervingly that he has this truth of his constantly in his control, never letting go of it even for the sake of his own enjoyment of his work.
Andrei TarkovskyRead
I don't do a comic book thinking there is a movie. I just want it to be as good a comic book as it can be.
Frank MillerRead
Art is a step in the known toward the unknown
Khalil GibranRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.