Musicians

Sound architects who moved us beyond words.

26 entries

Billie Holiday

American · 1915–1959

“If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.”

Björk

Icelandic · 1965–

“I find it so amazing that people find it so amazing that I should write my own songs.”

Bob Dylan

American · 1941–

“How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?”

Claude Debussy

French · 1862–1918

“Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.”

David Bowie

British · 1947–2016

“I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring.”

Édith Piaf

French · 1915–1963

“Use your faults, use your defects; then you're going to be a star.”

Erik Satie

French · 1866–1925

“Before I compose a piece, I walk around it several times, accompanied by myself.”

Frank Zappa

American · 1940–1993

“Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best.”

Frédéric Chopin

Polish-French · 1810–1849

“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”

Glenn Gould

Canadian · 1932–1982

“The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.”

Gustav Mahler

Austrian · 1860–1911

“Wenn du glaubst, dein Publikum zu langweilen, so spiele langsamer, nicht schneller.”

“If you think you are boring your audience, go slower not faster.”

Igor Stravinsky

Russian-American · 1882–1971

“Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.”

Johann Sebastian Bach

German · 1685–1750

“I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.”

John Coltrane

American · 1926–1967

“You can play a shoestring if you're sincere.”

John Lennon

British · 1940–1980

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”

Joni Mitchell

Canadian · 1943–

“We are stardust, we are golden, / And we've got to get ourselves / Back to the garden.”

Leonard Cohen

Canadian · 1934–2016

“Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal.”

Ludwig van Beethoven

German · 1770–1827

“Ich will dem Schicksal in den Rachen greifen; ganz niederbeugen soll es mich gewiss nicht.”

“I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.”

Maria Callas

Greek-American · 1923–1977

“An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down.”

Miles Davis

American · 1926–1991

“It's not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.”

Nick Cave

Australian · 1957–

“The writing of a good song is a brutal act of self-destruction. The finished song is the evidence of survival.”

Nina Simone

American · 1933–2003

“An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.”

Patti Smith

American · 1946–

“In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.”

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Japanese · 1952–2023

“Art is long and life is short, and in the end, the art is the only thing that survives.”

Thelonious Monk

American · 1917–1982

“The piano ain't got no wrong notes.”

Thom Yorke

British · 1968–

“The biggest enemy of creativity is self-doubt.”