Home   >   Movie Stars   >   E   >   Brian Eno   >   Quotes

Brian Eno Quotes

37 quotations by Brian Eno

QuoteWhen I went back to England after a year away, the country seemed stuck, dozing in a fairy tale, stifled by the weight of tradition.Quote

QuoteThe philosophical idea that there are no more distances, that we are all just one world, that we are all brothers, is such a drag! I like differences.Quote

QuoteThe lyrics are constructed as empirically as the music. I don't set out to say anything very important.Quote

QuoteThe basis of computer work is predicated on the idea that only the brain makes decisions and only the index finger does the work.Quote

QuoteRobert Fripp and I will be recording another LP very soon. It should be even more monotonous than the first one!Quote

QuotePeople assume that the meaning of a song is vested in the lyrics. To me, that has never been the case. There are very few songs that I can think of where I remember the words.Quote

QuoteOne of the interesting things about having little musical knowledge is that you generate surprising results sometimes; you move to places you wouldn't if you knew better.Quote

QuoteNearly all the things I do that are of any merit at all start off just being good fun, and I think I'm sort of building up to doing something else quite soon.Quote

QuoteMy lyrics are generated by various peculiar processes. Very random and similar to automatic writing.Quote

QuoteMy guitar only has five strings 'cause the top one broke and I decided not to put it back on: when I play chords I only play bar chords, and the top one always used to cut me there.Quote

QuoteMusicians are there in front of you, and the spectators sense their tension, which is not the case when you're listening to a record. Your attention is more relaxed. The emotional aspect is more important in live music.Quote

QuoteMusic in itself carries a whole set of messages which are very, very rich and complex, and the words either serve to exclude certain ones or point up certain others.Quote

QuoteIt's not the destination that matters. It's the change of scene.Quote

QuoteIn the 1960s, people were trying to get away from the pop song format. Tracks were getting longer, or much, much shorter.Quote

QuoteIf you're in a forest, the quality of the echo is very strange because echoes back off so many surfaces of all those trees that you get this strange, itchy ricochet effect.Quote

QuoteIf you want to make someone feel emotion, you have to make them let go. Listening to something is an act of surrender.Quote

QuoteIf I had a stock of fabulous sounds I would just always use them. I wouldn't bother to find new ones.Quote

QuoteI'm very good with technology, I always have been, and with machines in general. They seem not threatening like other people find them, but a source of fun and amusement.Quote

QuoteI'm not interested in possible complexities. I regard song structure as a graph paper.Quote

QuoteI wanted to get rid of the element that had been considered essential in pop music: the voice.Quote

QuoteI thought it was magic to be able to catch something identically on tape and then be able to play around with it, run it backwards; I thought that was great for years.Quote

QuoteI see TV as a picture medium rather than a narrative medium.Quote

QuoteI often work by avoidance.Quote

QuoteI have a definite talent for convincing people to try something new. I am a good salesman. When I'm on form, I can sell anything.Quote

QuoteI hate the rock music tradition. I can't bear it!Quote

QuoteI had wanted a tape recorder since I was tiny. I thought it was a magic thing. I never got one until just before I went to art school.Quote

QuoteI had a lot of trouble with engineers, because their whole background is learning from a functional point of view, and then learning how to perform that function.Quote

QuoteI felt extremely uncomfortable as the focal point, in the spotlight. I really like the behind the scenes role, because all my freedom is there.Quote

QuoteI enjoy working with complicated equipment. A lot of my things started just with a rhythm box, but I feed it through so many things that what comes out sounds very complex and rich.Quote

QuoteI don't live in the past at all; I'm always wanting to do something new. I make a point of constantly trying to forget and get things out of my mind.Quote

QuoteI always use the same guitar; I got this guitar years and years ago for nine pounds. It's still got the same strings on it.Quote

QuoteFor the world to be interesting, you have to be manipulating it all the time.Quote

QuoteFor me it's always contingent on getting a sound-the sound always suggests what kind of melody it should be. So it's always sound first and then the line afterwards.Quote

QuoteAt the beginning of the 20th century, the ambition of the great painters was to make paintings that were like music, which was then considered as the noblest art.Quote

QuoteAs soon as I hear a sound, it always suggests a mood to me.Quote

QuoteAgressive music can only shock you once. Afterwards its impact declines. It's inevitable.Quote

QuoteA part of me has become immortal, out of my control.Quote