Aaron Copland

“So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.”

“You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down... some sort of permanent statement about the way it feels to live now, today.”

“To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.”

“Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.”

“Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, orperhaps of subconsciousness—I wouldn't know. But I amsure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.”

“A melody is not merely something you can hum.”

“Listening to the Fifth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams is like staring at a cow for 45 minutes.”

“The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to music?' My answer would be, 'Yes.' And 'Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be, 'No.'”

“If a literary man puts together two words about music, one of them will be wrong.”