If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.
Dmitri ShostakovichRead
What you have in your head, put down on paper. The head is a fragile vessel.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Express your thoughts and ideas through writing, as they can easily be lost.
Dmitri Shostakovich emphasizes the importance of transferring one's thoughts and ideas from the mind onto paper. He suggests that our minds can be unreliable and fleeting, making it essential to document our creativity and insights before they fade away or become forgotten.
Themes
WritingCreativityExpressionThoughtsDocument
In practice
Example use cases
During a creative writing workshop, to encourage students to write more openly.
More from Dmitri Shostakovich
All quotes →I write music, it’s performed. After all, my music says it all. It doesn’t need historical and hysterical commentaries. In the long run, any words about music are less important than the music.
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Real music is always revolutionary, for it cements the ranks of the people; it arouses them and leads them onward.
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When a man is in despair, it means that he still believes in something.
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The best way to hold on to something is to pay no attention to it. The things you love too much perish. You have to treat everything with irony, especially the things you hold dear. There's more of a chance then that they'll survive.
Dmitri ShostakovichRead
Football is the ballet of the masses.
Dmitri ShostakovichRead
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