“Music is the cup which holds the wine of silence. Sound is that cup, but empty. Noise is that cup, but broken.”

—  Robert Fripp

“The Vinyl Solution.” in Musician, Player, and Listener 24 (April-May 1980): 34.
Elsewhere

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 24, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Music is the cup which holds the wine of silence. Sound is that cup, but empty. Noise is that cup, but broken." by Robert Fripp?
Robert Fripp photo
Robert Fripp 17
English guitarist, composer and record producer 1946

Related quotes

Tao Yuanming photo

“In former days I wanted wine to drink;
The wine this morning fills the cup in vain.”

Tao Yuanming (365–427) Chinese poet

Second of three poems ("Three Dirges") written by Tao Yuanming in 427, the same year he died at the age of 63, and often read as poems written for his own funeral.
John Minford and Joseph S. M. Lau (eds.), Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations (2000), p. 513
Context: In former days I wanted wine to drink;
The wine this morning fills the cup in vain.
I see the spring mead with its floating foam,
And wonder when to taste of it again.
The feast before me lavishly is spread,
My relatives and friends beside me cry.
I wish to speak but lips can shape no voice,
I wish to see but light has left my eye.
I slept of old within the lofty hall,
Amidst wild weeds to rest I now descend.
When once I pass beyond the city gate
I shall return to darkness without end.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning photo

“Perhaps the cup was broken here,
That Heaven's new wine might show more clear.
I praise Thee while my days go on.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) English poet, author

St. 22.
De Profundis (1862)
Context: Whatever's lost, it first was won;
We will not struggle nor impugn.
Perhaps the cup was broken here,
That Heaven's new wine might show more clear.
I praise Thee while my days go on.

Kate Bush photo

“I hold a cup of wisdom,
But there is nothing within.”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)

Billie Eilish photo

“Wake up and smell the coffee
Is your cup half full or empty?”

Billie Eilish (2001) American singer-songwriter

"Come Out and Play" (20 November 2018) · YouTube audio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXFdnHiGwos, co-written with Finneas O'Connell.
Singles (2017 - )

Henry Rollins photo

“What goes best with a cup of coffee? Another cup.”

Source: Black Coffee Blues

Li Bai photo

“Enjoy a cup of wine while you're alive!
Do not care if your fame will not survive!”

Li Bai (701–762) Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty poetry period

"Hard Is the Way of the World" III http://wengu.tartarie.com/wg/wengu.php?no=84&l=Tangshi, trans. Witter Bynner

Bruce Lee photo

“Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker
Alexander Maclaren photo
Craig Benzine photo

“There are two things in life that keep me motivated, a cup of coffee and a second cup of coffee.”

Craig Benzine (1980) Filmmaker, comedian, presenter

Source: Robert Galinsky (2013) Coffee Crazy, p. 88

Related topics