John Cage, (1912 - 1992) Quotes

We are involved in a life that passes understanding: our highest business is our daily life.

It is better to make a piece of music than to perform one, better to perform one than to listen to one, better to listen to one than to misuse it as a means of distraction, entertainment, or acquisition of "culture.

An error is simply a failure to adjust immediately from a preconception to an actuality.

To accept whatever comes, regardless of the consequences, is to be unafraid.

Questions I might have learned to ask him can no longer be answered.

We dream of the day when no one knows who's President, because no one bothered to vote.

A newspaperman wrote asking me to send'im my philosophy in a nutshell. Get out of whatever cage you happen to be in.

We're in a confusion of books. Bonfire?

We learn nothing from the things we know.

Paper should be edible, nutritious. Inks used for printing or writing should have delicious flavors. Magazines or newspapers read at breakfast should be eaten for lunch. Instead of throwing one's mail in the waste-basket, it should be saved for the dinner guests.