Quotessence
Home / Authors / John Cage
John Cage

John Cage Quotes

Composer

Filter quotes by topic

AllSoundMusicIfsArtPeopleMusic IsHappensNeedsSaidThinking

Famous John Cage Quotes

“Paper should be edible, nutritious. Inks used for printing or writing should have delicious flavors. Magazines or newspapers read at breakfast should be eaten for lunch. Instead of throwing one's mail in the waste-basket, it should be saved for the dinner guests.”

ShouldWritingUsedWastePaperShould HaveDinnerSavedNewspapersMagazinesBreakfastLunchThrowingGuestsMailDeliciousFlavorInkPrintingBasketsDinner Guests
Book:M: Writings ’67–’72
Create image

“I never had a hat, never wore one, but recently was given a brown suede duck-hunting hat. The moment I put it on I realized I was starved for a hat. I kept it warm by putting it on my head. I made plans to wear it especially when I was going to do any thinking. Somewhere in Virginia, I lost my hat.”

ThinkingMadeMomentsLostGivenPlansWarmI RealizedBrownHatsHuntingDucksVirginiaDuck Hunting
Book:A Year from Monday: New Lectures and Writings
Create image

“We are living in a period in which many people have changed their mind about what the use of music is or could be for them. Something that doesn't speak or talk like a human being, that doesn't know its definition in the dictionary or its theory in the schools, that expresses itself simply by the fact of its vibrations. People paying attention to vibratory activity, not in reaction to a fixed ideal performance, but each time attentively to how it happens to be this time, not necessarily two times the same. A music that transports the listener to the moment where he is.”

PeopleKnowsMindHumansTwoMomentsFactsUseHappensSchoolSpeakHuman BeingsAttentionMusicChangedTheoryPeriodsActivityMusic IsIdealsPerformancesDefinitionsReactionsPay AttentionFixedListenersDictionaryVibrationsTransport
Author:John Cage
Create image

“Percussion music is revolution. Sound and rhythm have too long been submissive to the restrictions of nineteenth century music. Today we are fighting for their emancipation. Tomorrow, with electronic music in our ears, we will hear freedom. At the present stage of revolution, a healthy lawlessness is warranted. Experiment must necessarily be carried on by hitting anything-tin pans, rice bowls, iron pipes-anything we can lay our hands on. Not only hitting, but rubbing, scraping, making sound in every possible way...What we can't do ourselves will be done by machines which we will invent.”

WayLongDoneHandsTodayFightingSoundMusicCenturyStageRevolutionTomorrowHealthyMusic IsMachinesEarsLaysExperimentsRhythmIronHittingBowlsRestrictionRicePipeNineteenth CenturyEmancipationTinSubmissiveElectronic MusicLawlessnessPercussionScraping
Author:John Cage
Create image