Orts #707
To teach the right pupils was a pleasure, but teaching in general was to me like turning a grindstone with a dislocated shoulder.
-- Edward Elgar, quoted in Sir Edward Elgar, by Robert J. Buckley, 1905
The Roman soldiers tied weights to their sandals when marching for exercise, that by discarding them in time of war they might rejoice in comparative lightness and freedom. So, it would seem, are musicians weighted in the study of strict counterpoint, that in free composition they may derive additional inspiration from the joy of casting the load aside. It may be suggested that Elgar has cast away not only the weights but also the sandals.
-- Robert J. Buckley, in Sir Edward Elgar, 1905
Read over your compositions and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.
-- Samuel Johnson
It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.
-- various attributions, including Chuck Palahnuik and Tyler Durden
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