I owe very, very much to Mozart; and if one studies, for instance, the way in which I write for string quartet, then one cannot deny that I have learned this directly from Mozart. And I am proud of it!
Arnold SchoenbergRead
I never was very capable of expressing my feelings or emotions in words. I don't know whether this is the cause why I did it in music and also why I did it in painting. Or vice versa: That I had this way as an outlet. I could renounce expressing something in words.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the inadequacy of words to express deep emotions, suggesting that art can serve as a more authentic outlet.
Arnold Schoenberg articulates a personal struggle with verbal expression, indicating that his inability to convey his feelings in words led him to use music and painting as alternative means of communication. This highlights the idea that art can capture and express complexities of human emotion in ways that words sometimes cannot.
Themes
EmotionArtMusicExpressionFeelings
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the power of creativity, one may quote Schoenberg to emphasize the limits of language.
More from Arnold Schoenberg
All quotes →There is still plenty of good music to be written in C major.
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I am the slave of an internal power more powerful than my education.
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I find above all that the expression, atonal music, is most unfortunate — it is on a par with calling flying the art of not falling, or swimming the art of not drowning.
Arnold SchoenbergRead
My music is not modern, it is merely badly played
Arnold SchoenbergRead
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