To him the stars seemed like so many musical notes affixed to the sky, just waiting for somebody to unfasten them. Someday the sky would be emptied, but by then the earth would be a constellation of musical scores
Interpretation
The quote portrays the stars as potential musical notes, suggesting a deep connection between the universe and creativity.
Machado De Assis uses the metaphor of stars as musical notes to convey the idea that the universe is full of untapped creativity waiting to be expressed. He suggests that while the sky may eventually be emptied of stars, the earth will remain vibrant with the music of life created from those inspirations, highlighting the relationship between the cosmos and artistic expression.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about the importance of artistic expression.
Let Pascal say that man is a thinking reed. He is wrong; man is a thinking erratum. Each period in life is a new edition that corrects the preceding one and that in turn will be corrected by the next, until publication of the definitive edition, which the publisher donates to the worms.
In ordinary life, the action of a third party does not free the contractor from an obligation; but the advantage of making a contract with heaven is that intentions are valid currency.
There is nothing in the world so monstrously vast as our indifference.
Por que bonita, se coxa? Por que coxa, se bonita?
To you I am neither man nor woman. I come before you as an author only.
I'm not one of those writers who insist they don't read reviews and don't care much about them. I do read them, and I do care about them, and they're not always what you want them to be in an ideal world.
To wake the soul by tender strokes of art, To raise the genius, and to mend the heart; To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold, Live o'er each Seene, and be what they behold: For this the Tragic Muse first trod the stage.
For a writer, you definitely do not want to be in the mainstream. You want to be on the edge because that's where the vantage point is. That's where you can see.
Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot. It was one of the first things I photographed and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still do adore some of them. I don't quite mean they're my best friends but they made me feel a mixture of shame and awe.
I do feel that I have to use my voice for those that don't have one. I have to do the best I can in my own work to represent my culture, represent the women of my country, of Latin America. What we stand for. What we're made of.
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