“Music is, for me, like a beautiful mosaic which God has put together. He takes all the pieces in his hand, throws them into the world, and we have to recreate the picture from the pieces.” WorldHandsTogetherBeautifulPiecesMusic IsMosaics Author:Jean Sibelius
“For an instant God opens his door and His orchestra plays the Fifth Symphony.” PlayDoorsInstantOrchestraFifthSymphony Author:Jean Sibelius
“All the doctors who wanted to forbid me to smoke and to drink are dead.” WantedDrinkDoctorsSmokeDoctor Who Author:Jean Sibelius
“If I could express the same thing with words as with music, I would, of course, use a verbal expression. Music is something autonomous and much richer. Music begins where the possibilities of language end. That is why I write music.” IfsWritingEndsUseCoursesLanguagePossibilityExpressionMusic IsIf I CouldAutonomous Author:Jean Sibelius
“Whereas most other modern composers are engaged in manufacturing cocktails of every hue and description, I offer the public cold spring water.” WaterModernColdOffersPureEngagedDescriptionComposerManufacturingCocktailsHueCold Water Author:Jean Sibelius
“I often conduct an orchestra in my sleep; my orchestras are so huge that the back desks of the violas vanish into the horizon. And everything is so wonderful.” SleepWonderfulHugeHorizonDesksOrchestraViola Author:Jean Sibelius
“Cities are the least permanent things in our civilization.” CitiesCivilizationPermanentPermanent Things Author:Reynolds Price
“A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens-second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to the vast incommunicable constructs of psychopaths.” NeedsStoriesHomeSoundSilenceMillionsOur LivesEventsEssentialsOppositesAccountsSpeciesNarrativeShelterDominantConstructsNourishmentHomo SapiensWithout LovePsychopath Book:A common room: essays, 1954-1987 Source: A common room: essays, 1954-1987
“Writing is a fearsome but grand vocation—potentially healing but likewise deadly. I wouldn’t trade my life for the world.” WorldWritingHealingTradeVocation Author:Reynolds Price