Glenn Gould Quotes

The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.

Isolation is the indispensable component of human happiness.

One does not play the piano with one's fingers, one plays the piano with one's mind.

u201Che G-minor Symphony consists of eight remarkable measures surrounded by a half-hour of banality.

There is a craft and a power in listening.

Whenever one honestly defies a tradition, one becomes, in reality, the more responsible to it.

The purpose of art is the lifelong construction of a state of wonder.

I detest audiences - not in their individual components, but en masse I detest audiences. I think they're a force of evil. It seems to me rule of mob law.

If an artist wants to use his mind for creative work, cutting oneself off from society is a necessary thing

My moods are inversely related to the clarity of the sky.

The justification of art is the internal combustion it ignites in the hearts of men and not its shallow, externalized, public manifestations.

The mental imagery involved with pianistic tactilia is not related to the striking of individual keys but rather to the rites of passage between notes.

The final, unfinished fugue from The Art of Fugue is the greatest piece of music ever composed.

The nature of the contrapuntal experience is that every note has to have a past and a future on the horizontal plane.

Mozart died too late rather than too soon.

I don't approve of people who watch television, but I am one of them.

[Bach is the] reason I became a musician

A record is a concert without halls and a museum whose curator is the owner.

Once I turned pro, so to speak, I put away childish things forever.

Isolation is the one sure way to human happiness.

I always assumed everybody shared my love for overcast skies. It came as a shock to find out that some people prefer sunshine.