Ned Rorem Quotes

Quotes about:

• Don't be too dismissive of children. While it's true that few children are artists, all artists are children.

  Ned Rorem

  Children, Artist

  Ned Rorem (2001). “A Ned Rorem Reader”, p.26, Yale University Press

  46 Copy quote

• Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions of childhood, he ceases being an artist.

  Ned Rorem

  Growing Up, Artist, Childhood

  Ned Rorem (2000). “Lies: A Diary, 1986-1999”, Counterpoint Press

  30 Copy quote

• It's not evil that's ruining the earth, but mediocrity. The crime is not that Nero played while Rome burned, but that he played badly.

  Ned Rorem

  Rome, Evil, Perfect

  14 Copy quote

• Inspiration could be called inhaling the memory of an act never experienced.

  Ned Rorem

  Inspirational, Memories, Brainstorming

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  17 Copy quote

• Nothing is a waste that makes a memory.

  Ned Rorem

  Memories, Waste

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Paris Diary & The New York Diary: 1951–1961”, p.69, Open Road Media

  11 Copy quote

• Music is the sole art which evokes nostalgia for the future.

  Ned Rorem

  Art, Nostalgia, Evoke

  Ned Rorem (2013). “Setting the Tone: Essays and a Diary”, p.245, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

• Divine fires do not blaze each day but an artist functions in their afterglow, hoping for their recurrence.

  Ned Rorem

  Artist, Fire, Each Day

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  24 Copy quote

• The beautiful are shyer than the ugly, for they move in a world that does not ask for beauty.

  Ned Rorem

  Beautiful, Moving, Doe

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Paris Diary & The New York Diary: 1951–1961”, p.118, Open Road Media

  11 Copy quote

• If music could be translated into human speech, it would no longer need to exist.

  Ned Rorem

  Music, Needs, Speech

  Ned Rorem (2013). “Setting the Tone: Essays and a Diary”, p.337, Open Road Media

  12 Copy quote

• composition is notation of distortion of what composers think they've heard before. Masterpieces are marvelous misquotations.

  Ned Rorem

  Thinking, Distortion, Composer

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Paris Diary & The New York Diary: 1951–1961”, p.53, Open Road Media

  9 Copy quote

• The art of translation lies less in knowing the other language than in knowing your own.

  Ned Rorem

  Art, Lying, Knowing

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Later Diaries of Ned Rorem: 1961–1972”, p.63, Open Road Media

  10 Copy quote

• Humor is the ability to see three sides to one coin.

  Ned Rorem

  Humor, Two Sides, Flipping A Coin

  Ned Rorem (2013). “Setting the Tone: Essays and a Diary”, p.149, Open Road Media

  15 Copy quote

• Quarrels in France strengthen a love affair, in America they end it.

  Ned Rorem

  Love, America, France

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Paris Diary & The New York Diary: 1951–1961”, p.14, Open Road Media

  7 Copy quote

• So far as musical pedagogy is concerned -
  And by extension of musical creation -
  Nadia Boulanger is the most influential person who ever lived

  Ned Rorem

  Musical, Influential Person, Creation

  7 Copy quote

• In music the present is extended.

  Ned Rorem

  Ned Rorem (2013). “Knowing When to Stop: A Memoir”, p.326, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

• If a composer could state in words what being a composer means, he would no longer need to be a composer.

  Ned Rorem

  Mean, Needs, States

  Ned Rorem (1970). “Critical Affairs: A Composer's Journal”, George Braziller

  4 Copy quote

• To start writing about your life is, from one standpoint, to stop living it. You must avoid adventures today so as to make time for registering those of yesterday.

  Ned Rorem

  Writing, Adventure, Yesterday

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Later Diaries of Ned Rorem: 1961–1972”, p.97, Open Road Media

  8 Copy quote

• Intelligence is silence, truth is being invisible. But what a racket I make in declaring this.

  Ned Rorem

  Silence, Truth Is, Invisible

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Later Diaries of Ned Rorem: 1961–1972”, p.65, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

• Bel canto is to opera what pole-vaulting is to ballet.

  Ned Rorem

  Ballet, Musical, Opera

  4 Copy quote

• All men are forced into one of two categories: those with eleven fingers and those without.

  Ned Rorem

  Men, Two, Eleven

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Paris Diary & The New York Diary: 1951–1961”, p.136, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

• To see itself through, music must have idea or magic. ... Music with neither dies young though rich.

  Ned Rorem

  Ideas, Magic, Rich

  7 Copy quote

• The Great don't innovate, they fertilize seeds planted by lackeys, they leave to others the inhaling of the flowers whose roots they've manured. A deceptive memory may be the key to their originality.

  Ned Rorem

  Memories, Flower, Keys

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Later Diaries of Ned Rorem: 1961–1972”, p.102, Open Road Media

  7 Copy quote

• Artists, by definition innocent, don't steal. But they do borrow without giving back.

  Ned Rorem

  Artist, Giving, Definitions

  Ned Rorem (2013). “Knowing When to Stop: A Memoir”, p.210, Open Road Media

  7 Copy quote

• Art's the biggest vanity: the assumption that one's view of peace or fright or beauty is permanently communicable.

  Ned Rorem

  Art, Vanity, Views

  Ned Rorem (2013). “Setting the Tone: Essays and a Diary”, p.110, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

• Sooner or later you've heard all your best friends have to say. Then comes the tolerance of real love.

  Ned Rorem

  Real, Tolerance, Your Best Friend

  Ned Rorem (2013). “The Later Diaries of Ned Rorem: 1961–1972”, p.64, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

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