List of John Cage Quotes

Some People Take Music Too Seriously, And Some Don't Take It Seriously Enough, Others Take It Just Right.

If Someone Says Can't, That Shows You What To Do.

If There Are Questions Then, Of Course, There Are Answers, But The Final Answer Makes The Questions Seem Absurd.

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.

So Somebody Has Talent? So What? Dime A Dozen. And We're Overpopulated. Actually We Have More Food Than We Have People And More Art. We've Gotten To The Point Of Burning Food. When Will We Begin To Burn Our Art?

Food, One Assumes, Provides Nourishment; But Americans Eat It Fully Aware That Small Amounts Of Poison Have Been Added To Improve Its Appearance And Delay Its Putrefaction.

You Can Feel An Emotion; Just Don't Think That It's So Important.

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.

As Mcluhan Says, Everything Happens At Once.

No One Can Have An Idea Once He Starts Really Listening.

Each Moment Presents What Happens.

Until I Die There Will Be Sounds. And They Will Continue Following My Death. One Need Not Fear About The Future Of Music.