Mediocrity borrows, genius steals. Igor Stravinsky More Quotes by Igor Stravinsky More Quotes From Igor Stravinsky Art is the opposite of chaos. Art is organized chaos. Igor Stravinsky chaos opposites art My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Stra-whiskey. Igor Stravinsky scotch names thinking My freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self of the chains that shackle the spirit. Igor Stravinsky freedom self meaningful I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it. Igor Stravinsky bars music thinking One has a nose. The nose scents and it chooses. An artist is simply a kind of pig snouting truffles. Igor Stravinsky creativity music art In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love? Igor Stravinsky marriage love order A good composer does not imitate; he steals. Igor Stravinsky jazz-and-life music doe There is music wherever there is rhythm, as there is life wherever there beats a pulse. Igor Stravinsky rhythm pulse beats The further one separates himself from the precepts of the Christian Church, the further one distances himself from the truth. Only God can create. I make music from music. Igor Stravinsky distance church christian The Church knew what the psalmist knew: Music praises God. Music is well or better able to praise him than the building of the church and all its decoration; it is the Church's greatest ornament. Igor Stravinsky ornaments able church I take no pride in my artistic talents; they are God-given and I see absolutely no reason to become puffed up over something that one has received. Igor Stravinsky artistic talent pride I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge. Igor Stravinsky wisdom inspirational life Music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the coordination between man and time. Igor Stravinsky music men order Consonance, says the dictionary, is the combination of several tones into a harmonic unit. Dissonance results from the deranging of this harmony by the addition of tones foreign to it. One must admit that all this is not clear. Ever since it appeared in our vocabulary, the word 'dissonance' has carried with it a certain odor of sinfulness. Let us light our lantern: in textbook language, dissonance is an element of transition, a complex or interval of tones that is not complete in itself and that must be resolved to the ear's satisfaction into a perfect consonance. Igor Stravinsky vocabulary light perfect Harpists spend 90 percent of their lives tuning their harps and 10 percent playing out of tune. Igor Stravinsky harps tuning tunes Composition is selective improvisation. Igor Stravinsky selective composition improvisation Music's exclusive function is to structure the flow of time and keep order in it. Igor Stravinsky structure flow order My childhood was a period of waiting for the moment when I could send everyone and everything connected with it to hell. Igor Stravinsky childhood hell waiting Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning. Igor Stravinsky inspiration work food To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears also. Igor Stravinsky effort ducks music
