Quotes
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You have to believe in yourself…
You have to believe in yourself. If not, change profession. Rodion Shchedrin (*1932) in conversation with Martha Argerich in 2011, during a rehearsal of “Romantic Offering” — double concerto for piano, violoncello, and orchestra — with Argerich (piano), and Mischa Maisky (cello).
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Ending again, and again…
“Indubitable signs teach us that this globe had already undergone several complete changes, which have been in effect ends of the world; and I do not know what instinct it is which warns us that there will be still more of them.” Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) in “The Physiology of Taste” (Meditation 10)
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Love is higher than opinion
Love is higher than opinion. If people love one another the most varied opinions can be reconciled — thus one of the most important tasks for humankind today and in the future is that we should learn to live together and understand one another. If this human fellowship is not achieved, all talk of development…
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Celebration Day — ten
Taste is not as richly endowed as hearing, which can listen to and compare several sounds at the same time: taste is simple in its action, which is to say that it cannot receive impressions from two flavors at once. But taste can be double, and even multiple, in succession, so that in a single…
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In the Words of David Bowie
The truth is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time. David Bowie / David Robert Jones (1947-2016)
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“Even when we sleep we watch over each other”
Today I came across this composition. It is the first line of a single quatrain by Paul Éluard (1895-1952) which Elaine Springer published on Instagram. Sometimes we may argue on the factual accuracy of word compositions trying to express a given poetic picture. Yet, at times — like here — one might override any sense…
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Apple Wisdom
The seeds found in apples are bitter. Sounds like a natural defense against animals feasting on them. In addition, genetically, each seed will produce an apple tree which bears apples of a different variety. Naturally, each distinct variety would only exist as long as the lifespan of its tree of provenance. Source: “Botany of Desire”…
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“It is cruel that music should be so beautiful.”
It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature and everlasting beauty of monotony. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) English Composer
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Words at the Opera — Hamlet
The wiser among us are the madmen. Hamlet / Grand Opera in five acts (1868) by Ambroise Thomas
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Jacqueline du Pré
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. Jacqueline du Pré (1945-1987, England) Cellist
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Friedrich the Great on Coffee
“It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee consumption. Everybody is using coffee. If possible this must be prevented. My people must drink beer.” Friedrich the Great (1712-1786)
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Invisibles are Present
Madness ceases to exist, once it reaches numbing proportions. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) German poet, playwright
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Impotence and Imprisonment
Give me rather impotence sitting by a coffee on an island of beauties — whichever species — than intimacies and orgasms in a state of imprisonment. 2012
Sila Blume 