
“I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it.”
Interviewed by Dan Warburton, July 8, 1995. http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/birtwistle.html
“I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it.”
Interviewed by Dan Warburton, July 8, 1995. http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/birtwistle.html
2012
“I know nothing of music; I would not give a farthing for all the music in the universe.”
Observations on Lord Orrery's Remarks on Life of Swift, Delany, (1754), p. 192.
Disputed
“I much prefer to drink coffee, listen to music and to paint when I feel like it.”
As quoted in Saul Leiter (2008) by Agnès Sire
Context: In order to build a career and to be successful, one has to be determined. One has to be ambitious. I much prefer to drink coffee, listen to music and to paint when I feel like it.
“I can't help preferring champagne to ditch water — I doubt if the universe does.”
Letter to http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HLS.Libr:8362502?n=37 William James (24 March 1907); this was misquoted as "I happen to prefer champagne to ditchwater, but there is no reason to suppose that the cosmos does" in "Our Mission Statement" http://article.nationalreview.com/346187/our-mission-statement/william-f-buckley-jr by William F. Buckley, Jr., in National Review (19 November 1955).
1900s
"The Neglected Plane of Wisdom" (1966), p. 250
Sun Ra : The Immeasurable Equation (2005)
“Music for me is something I prefer to keep away form the whole business part of my life.”
Interview 2
Context: Music for me is something I prefer to keep away form the whole business part of my life. I feel like everything I do, in a way, has some sort of business around it. So with my music I can have my privacy. If people don’t have to pay for it then I think they can be a little more open to new ideas.
Life in the Industry: A Musician's Diary