“Music exists when rhythmic, melodic or harmonic order is deliberately created, and consciously listened to, and it is only language-using, self-conscious creatures ... who are capable of organizing sounds in this way, either when uttering them or when perceiving them. We can hear music in the song of the nightingale, but it is music that no nightingale has heard.” WaySelfSongOrderLanguageSoundMusicHeardCreaturesCapableConsciousSelf ConsciousNightingales Book:Understanding Music: Philosophy and Interpretation Source: Understanding Music: Philosophy and Interpretation
“All of us need an identity which unites us with our neighbours, our countrymen, those people who are subject to the same rules and the same laws as us, those people with whom we might one day have to fight side by side to protect our inheritance, those people with whom we will suffer when attacked, those people whose destinies are in some way tied up with our own.” PeopleWayNeedsMightLawSufferingFightingSidesDestinySubjectsIdentityOne DayProtectTiedInheritanceNeighbourCountrymenTied Up Author:Roger Scruton
“There is a crucial distinction to be made between innovation and originality. The second, unlike the first, can never break with what preceded it: to be original, an artist must also belong to the tradition from which he departs. To put it another way, he must violate the expectations of his audience, but he must also, in countless ways, uphold and endorse them.” WayFirstsMadeArtistBreakAudienceExpectationsTraditionInnovationOriginalsDistinctionCrucialOriginalityAnother Way Author:Roger Scruton
“In the attacks on the old ways of doing things on word in particular came into currency. That word was "kitsch." Once introduced, the word stuck. Whatever you do, it musn't be kitsch. This became the first precept of the modernist artist in every medium.” WayFirstsArtistParticularStuckMediumsCurrencyKitschOld Ways Author:Roger Scruton
“Freedom can reside only in a point of view, a way of looking upon the system of necessity.Surely this is the one freedom that we may attain to: not to be released from physical reality, but to understand reality and ourselves as part of it, and so be reconciled to what we are.” WayMayRealityViewsPoint Of View Author:Roger Scruton
“Beauty can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane; it can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. It can affect us in an unlimited variety of ways. Yet it is never viewed with indifference: beauty demands to be noticed; it speaks to us directly like the voice of an intimate friend. If there are people who are indifferent to beauty, then it is surely because they do not perceive it.” PeopleIfsWaySpeakVoiceBeautyDemandSacredVarietyPerceiveIndifferenceIntimateIndifferentUnlimitedChillDisturbingExhilaratingProfaneConsolingHealth BeautyIntimate Friends Book:Beauty: A Very Short Introduction Source: Beauty: A Very Short Introduction
