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To me, art is the capacity to experience one's innocence: craft is how you get to that point. Maturity in a musician would be the point at which one is innocent at will. At that point the relationship between music and the musician is direct and reliable._x000D_ The relationship with music is always mysterious: when it works, you can never tell. You can never guarantee when it's going to work. You can only to put yourself in a place where it's more likely to happen.
Robert Fripp
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Art involves tapping into one's inner innocence, while craft is the means to achieve that connection.

In this quote, Robert Fripp suggests that true artistry comes from a deep, instinctual connection to one's creative innocence, which can be accessed through skillful practice or craft. He emphasizes that the relationship between a musician and their music is inherently unpredictable and elusive; although the moments of inspiration and creation are not guaranteed, one can enhance the likelihood of those moments by fostering a conducive environment for creativity.

Themes

ArtMusicInnocenceCraftMaturityCreativity

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech at an art exhibition, one might quote this to inspire artists about the importance of connecting with their inner child.

More from Robert Fripp

The creative musician ... is ... the radio receiver, not the broadcasting station. His personal discipline is to improve the quality of the components, the transistors, the speakers, the alloys in the receiver itself, but never to concern himself overmuch with putting out the program. The program is there; all he has to do is receive it as far as possible.
Robert FrippRead
Music is the cup which holds the wine of silence.
Robert FrippRead

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