Music, Art and Madness Quotations and Proverbs

* some views expressed in these quotations not neccesarily endorsed by the author of this file.
* for entertainment only - history is not an exact science - dates and quotes not guaranteed for accuracy.

Added for July 2004:

To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.

I never saw an ugly thing in my life; for let the form of an object be what it may--light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.
  • Constable, in ibid

=== In Memorium Egon Schiele (1890-1918) ===

To restrict the artist is a crime. It is to murder germinating life

I must see new things and investigate them. I want to taste dark water and see crackling trees and wild winds.
  • Egon Schiele
Art cannot be modern, art is timeless.
  • Egon Schiele
I do not feel punished, but cleansed!
  • Egon Schiele
I will survive for art and for the people I love!
  • Egon Schiele
I am so rich that I must give myself away.
  • Egon Schiele

(* note : Attorney General Ashcroft would have disapproved of Egon.)

I do not deny that I have made drawings and watercolors of an erotic nature. But they are always works of art. Are there no artists who have done erotic pictures?

Over the years, I've always played that solo note for note--again, one of the few where I've done that--but it just got faster and faster onstage because we would drink more and more whiskey. Jon would have to play his already difficult part faster and faster and he would get very annoyed about it.
  • Ritchie Blackmore
Everyone should sing, whether they're good at it or not
  • William Q. Johnson, journalist and humorist (1955- )
I thought 'Stairway' crystallized the essence of the band. It had everything in there, and showed the band at its best. Every musician wants to do something that will hold up for a long time, and I guess we did that with 'Stairway.'
  • Jimmy Page
When work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is a duty, life is slavery.
  • Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) _The Lower Depths_ 1902
'Free Bird' was actually one of the first songs we ever wrote. [On the studio version,] The whole long jam was Allen Collins himself. He was bad. He was super bad! He was bad to the bone bad. When we put the solo together, we liked the sound of the two guitars, and I could've gone out and played it with him. But the way he was doin' it, he was just so hot! He just did it once and did it again and it was done.
  • Gary Rossington
Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms
  • Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
It takes courage to grow up & turn out to be who you really are.
  • E.E. Cummings
Every once in a while it seems like the cosmos part and something great plops into your lap. That's how it was with 'Hotel California'. I set this old rhythm ace to play a cha-cha beat, set the right tempo and play the twelve string on top of it. A few days later, I went back and listened to it and it sounded pretty unique, so I came up with a bass line. A few days after that, I added some electric guitars. Everything was mixed down to mono, ping-ponging back and forth on this little four-track. Now that I've heard it for 20 years, the 12-string part sounds right to me, but it's still not as nice as the E minor version we did. I wasn't convinced that it should be our single. I was very skeptical, but I yielded to the wisdom of Henley.
  • Don Felder

 

 

 

 

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