John Cage Quotes

The act of listening is in fact an act of composing.

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.

Everything you do is music, and everywhere is the best seat.

There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.

Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating.

Art is whatever you can get away with.

When you start working, everybody is in your studio- the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas- all are there. But as you continue painting, they start leaving, one by one, and you are left completely alone. Then, if you are lucky, even you leave.

The material of music is sound and silence. Integrating these is composing.

Get yourself out of whatever cage you find yourself in.

The Indians long ago knew that music was going on permanently and that hearing it was like looking out a window at a landscape which didn't stop when one turned away.

Look at everything. Don't close your eyes to the world around you. Look and become curious and interested in what there is to see.

I have nothing to say, and I am saying it.

The world, the real is not an object. It is a process.

If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.

Our intention is to affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply to wake up to the very life we're living, which is so excellent once one gets one's mind and desires out of its way and lets it act of it's own accord.

The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation.

Don't try to create and analyze at the same time. They're different processes.

My favorite music is the music I haven't yet heard

My favorite piece [piece of music] is the one we hear all the time if we are quiet.

Ideas are one thing and what happens is another.

The purpose of music is to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences.

There's no such thing as silence. Something is always happening that makes a sound.

The world is no longer a romantic place; some of its people still are however, and therein lies the promise. Don't let the world win.

I like being moved. I don't like being pushed.

The world is teeming; anything can happen.