My grandfather once ventured upon publishing a volume of hymns. I never heard anyone speak in their favour or argue that they ought to have been sung in the congregation. In that volume, he promised a second if the first should prove acceptable. We forgive him the first collection because he did not inflict another.
Charles SpurgeonTheir is no defense against criticism except obscurity.
Joseph AddisonAt the beginning of the 20th century, the ambition of the great painters was to make paintings that were like music, which was then considered as the noblest art.
Brian EnoI just want to keep writing music.
Lady GagaI’m not claiming divinity. I’ve never claimed purity of soul. I’ve never claimed to have the answers to life. I only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can… But I still believe in peace, love and understanding.
John LennonI love to play music. So why endanger that with something like drugs?
Dave GrohlThere’s something about music that encourages people to want to know more about the person that made it, and where it was recorded, what year it was done, what they were listening to, and all this kind of stuff. There’s something that invites all this obsessive behavior.
David ByrneI’m not going to make a song just to make a song. The day that I make an album, it’s so that people really know what Bad Bunny’s about.
Bad BunnyDoing the box set is one of those things where you get to rewrite your own history to some extent. We could take out some of the songs that we felt weren’t as strong as some of the others, so you look better.
David ByrneI’ve been a huge fan of Chris Martin forever; it’d be awesome to work with him. He’s really kind, and he’s been really encouraging when we’ve met.
Taylor SwiftI tried to give the world a bit of creativity, lyrics. And for me, I will always represent music from Puerto Rico, reggaeton, Latin music.
Bad BunnyI don’t like the name, U2, actually.
BonoWe have a Boesendorfer piano that I play every day. It keeps my brain and my fingers active.
Anthony HopkinsTogether with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport.
Pope FrancisI wanted to drop three albums in a year because no one had done it. It was bold, unheard of.
The WeekndI hate talking about music, to tell you the truth.
Brian EnoIt behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.
Theodore RooseveltI was doing sold-out shows before I got radio play.
Kevin GatesAn operatic voice is like no other.
Ruth Bader GinsburgI feel strange when I get applauded by people in power… because it’s obvious that it’s them I’m criticizing, but they can’t show that in front of the cameras. It’s quite funny sometimes.
Greta ThunbergNo accurate thinker will judge another person by that which the other person’s enemies say about him.
Napoleon HillI love music, and after my first experience with movies, I can’t wait to do more.
RihannaPerhaps when music has been shouting for so long, a quieter voice seems attractive.
Brian EnoAs for my stuff, I’m just doing guest verses for other people’s records. I try to stay recording, because if I don’t, I get rusty.
EminemAs a songwriter, you respect and appreciate the writings of other people, and I often get asked, are there songs out there I wish I’d written? Yes. There’s many of them!
Dolly PartonA sense of the universe, a sense of the all, the nostalgia which seizes us when confronted by nature, beauty, music – these seem to be an expectation and awareness of a Great Presence.
Pierre Teilhard de ChardinI wanted to have the adoration of John Lennon but have the anonymity of Ringo Starr. I didn’t want to be a frontman. I just wanted to be back there and still be a rock and roll star at the same time.
Kurt CobainI can write a song in about an hour if it’s a simple country song.
Dolly PartonI find it amusing that I’m on the Internet now, because I’ve criticized it, but mainly I’ve criticized it on the basis of, ‚What are you going to do with it?‘
Ray BradburyI was a strange, loud little kid who could sit at the piano and kill a Beethoven piece.
Lady GagaIt was always a plan that we were going to have a retail side with what were doing musically, like an Apple store or Nike Town. I wanted something where you can come get everything – ‚Marathon‘ or ‚All Money‘ or ‚Crenshaw‘ – and make it like an experience. Especially with what Crenshaw and Slauson meant to my story.
Nipsey HussleGive a critic an inch, he’ll write a play.
John SteinbeckI don’t have time to stand around and listen to an 11-minute song.
Dolly PartonPeople really had a problem with my disinterest in submission. They had a problem with my intellect, and they had a problem with my choice of lovers. They had a problem with my choice of everything.
Alice WalkerHe who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.
Albert EinsteinOne of my big fears is people saying my songs are all starting to sound the same.
Taylor SwiftUnless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard.
John SteinbeckI love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known.
Walt DisneyI’ve had mixtapes that have been better than albums I’ve heard from other artists. I take my time; I put my heart into it.
Kevin GatesI wanted to be Gerry Mulligan, only, see, I didn’t have any kind of technique. So I thought, well, baritone sax is kind of easier; I can manage that – except I couldn’t afford a baritone, so I bought an alto, which was the same fingering.
David BowieThe point about melody and beat and lyric is that they exist to engage you in a very particular way. They want to occupy your attention.
Brian EnoThis is an important book, the critic assumes, because it deals with war. This is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing-room.
Virginia WoolfNothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense.
Joseph AddisonWe uploaded ‚Ocean Eyes‘ to SoundCloud, and it started getting a lot of plays pretty much immediately.
Billie EilishYou just don’t wake up one day and decide that you need to write songs.
Bob DylanMy favorite record label of all time is Motown. That era of music was my favorite.
Kanye WestWithout music, life would be a mistake.
Friedrich NietzscheI know a lot of artists say this, but it’s hard to put myself in a box. I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming form a special place. There’s no tricks.
Bruno MarsI want to be a recording artist for my whole entire life. But Broadway is something I would come back to at any given moment. I love, love, love doing theater.
Ariana GrandeSitting on a bedroom floor crying is something that makes you feel really alone. If someone’s singing about that feeling, you feel bonded to that person. That’s the only way I can find an explanation for why 55,000 people would want to come see me sing.
Taylor SwiftYou create a community with music, not just at concerts but by talking about it with your friends.
David ByrneSomewhere it is written that parents who are critical of other people’s children and publicly admit they can do better are asking for it.
Erma BombeckI’m just writing, writing, writing. I keep these tablets on me until I’m inspired to go back in and make the music. I never take a break from my pen, because I pride myself on that.
Kendrick LamarYou can’t always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.
Frank ZappaCritics only make you stronger. You have to look at what they are saying as feedback. Sometimes the feedback helps, and other times, it’s just noise that can be a distraction.
Robert KiyosakiYou know, there are artists who are 35 and up that still make rap and that still works for them. I don’t know if I want to be that guy.
Drake‚Trilogy‘ was more of a claustrophobic body of work. Before it was released, I hadn’t left my city for 21 years, and I had never been on a plane, not once. I spent my entire life on one setting; that’s probably why pieces of the album feel like one long track, because that’s what my life felt like. It felt like one long song.
The WeekndBut when I hear a great song, I can’t help but be inspired by it, regardless of whatever genre that song falls under.
Taylor SwiftI had to resign myself, many years ago, that I’m not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does.
David BowieMusic with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.
Gilbert K. Chesterton