At the premieres, I always watch the audience. If a child asks to go to the bathroom, I know I've failed. Gian Carlo Menotti More Quotes by Gian Carlo Menotti More Quotes From Gian Carlo Menotti A man only becomes wise when he begins to calculate the approximate depth of his ignorance. Gian Carlo Menotti ignorancewisdomwise Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers - and never succeeding. Gian Carlo Menotti flowerbeautyart Hell begins on the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts which we have wasted, of all that we might have done which we did not do. Gian Carlo Menotti accountabilityvisiondone Music is...a form of remembering, a return to the seasons of the heart long gone. Gian Carlo Menotti returnheartlong Waiting and hoping are the whole of life, and as soon as a dream is realized it is destroyed. Gian Carlo Menotti wholewaitingdream Melody is a form of remembrance. It must have a quality of inevitability in our ears. Gian Carlo Menotti remembrancequalityears I know of no better definition of love than the one given by Proust - Love is space and time measured by the heart. Gian Carlo Menotti heartinspiringlove Any subject is good for opera if the composer feels it so intently he must sing it out. Gian Carlo Menotti composeroperafeels Love is born of faith, lives on hope, and dies of charity. Gian Carlo Menotti charitybornlove Love, which, in concert with Abstinence, established Faith, and which, along with Patience, builds up Chastity, is like the columns that sustain the four corners of a house. For it was that same Love which planted a glorious garden redolent with precious herbs and noble flowers-roses and lilies-which breathed forth a wondrous fragrance, that garden on which the true Solomon was accustomed to feast his eyes. Gian Carlo Menotti flowerinspiringlove I have always felt that art, especially music, is but a demonstration of God. Gian Carlo Menotti alwaysmusicgodart For better or for worse, in 'The Last Savage,' I have dared to do away completely with fashionable dissonance, and in a modest way, I have endeavored to rediscover the nobility of gracefulness and the pleasure of sweetness. Gian Carlo Menotti savagebetterpleasureway The only thing that interests me in music is to be able to reach into the, let's call it, 'collective unconscious' of what is noblest in the human spirit, the way you find in the music of Mozart and Beethoven and Verdi that wonderful quality that not a note can be changed. Gian Carlo Menotti meyouqualitymusic I thought conceptual art was a joke. Gian Carlo Menotti jokethoughtconceptual-artart People ask me whether I'm religious. Well, in a certain way, I am. Gian Carlo Menotti i-ammepeopleway I loathe my body. The liver spots, the sagging flesh. Gian Carlo Menotti liverspotsbodyflesh One lived in the impression that nobody could ever compete with the 'Nutcracker' or 'A Christmas Carol.' Gian Carlo Menotti competenobodyimpressionchristmas Writing beautiful melodies is not fashionable because it is very difficult to do. Gian Carlo Menotti becausedifficultwritingbeautiful God gives you the gift of melody or He doesn't - it's as simple as that. Gian Carlo Menotti giftyousimplegod I really don't think I have that much of the gift; I have a little bit, but I wish I were Schubert or Chopin or Beethoven, though Beethoven had a very difficult time writing melody, too. Gian Carlo Menotti giftthinkwishtime
