Quotes for All
I have never done anything except write, but I don’t possess the vocation or talents of a narrator, have no knowledge at all of the laws of dramatic composition, and if I have embarked upon this enterprise it is because I trust in the light shed by how much I have read in my life. … Read more
If somebody had told me when I was starting composition in Helsinki in the ’70s that I would end up in L.A. and to describe that journey, those 17 years with the philharmonic and building the hall and this and that, I would have said, This is a fairy tale of the first order. Esa-Pekka … Read more
My theory of composition? Simple: do not release the shutter until everything in the viewfinder feels just right. Ernst Haas
All the old bogeys of ‘dignified subject-matter,’ of ‘balanced compositions,’ of ‘correct drawing’ were laid to rest. The artist was responsible to no one but his own sensibilities for what he painted and how he painted it. Ernst Gombrich
A composition is an arrangement, built out of parts, that aims at seamlessness. Eric Maisel
Imagine filling a college with the first 1,000 students to get perfect SATs. Whatever the racial composition of that class would be, the notion seems absurd because we know that college in America is supposed to be about creating citizens and leaders in a diverse nation. Eric Liu
A precision of composition and figuration is what I’m working toward. I’ve always felt viewers should have an experience without having to ask what the hell is was about. Eric Fischl
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative. Elmore Leonard
Thorny compositions that sound as if female teen punkers the Shaggs received doctorates in the music of 12-tone composer Alban Berg, and then rewrote their Philosophy of the World…. Carefully notated structures and interplay morph effortlessly into free improvisation that is intelligent and expressive, but never self-indulgent. Also featuring intense lyrics sung with their clear … Read more
Composition can’t really be taught, it is a lifelong learning. Ellen Taaffe Zwilich