Art Quotes

"The more art is controlled, threatened, and persecuted, the more it flourishes."

"The real problem is whether the composer can write anything of value at all."

"Art is the only serious thing in the world."

"The least interesting thing about a work of art is what the artist intended."

"Art is not a democracy; it is a dictatorship of genius."

"A musical idea not fixed in notation is like a dream upon waking."

"Art is the expression of one's deepest thoughts in the most economical form."

"Without discipline, there is no art."

"The greatest threat to art is indifference."

"Art demands perfection in every detail, yet perfection itself is unattainable."

"The audience must trust the artist, or there is no art."

"Art is not democratic; it is aristocratic in the truest sense."

"A performer must serve the composer, not himself."

"Art is the bridge between the conscious and unconscious mind."

"Technique without emotion is gymnastics; emotion without technique is noise."

"Art must be necessary, or it is merely decoration."

"Art that does not challenge is art that does not exist."

"Art is either plagiarism or revolution."

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures."

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

"I always listen to what I can leave out."

"The hardest thing to play is what's not there."

"Art is the voice of those who cannot speak."

"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."

"The sweetness in music is not in the notes but in what lies between them."

"Jazz doesn't have to be understood - it just has to be felt."

"Every song tells a story - the trick is making people care about the story."

"You want to know what makes a great musician? A great heart."

"True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time."

"Jazz I regard as an American invention, something that will last."