Charles Ives Quotes

A rare experience of a moment at daybreak, when something in nature seems to reveal all consciousness, cannot be explained at noon. Yet it is part of the day's unity.

- Charles Ives

Expression, to a great extent, is a matter of terms, and terms are anyone's. The meaning of 'God' may have a billion interpretations if there be that many souls in the world.

- Charles Ives

It is conceivable that what is unified form to the author or composer may of necessity be formless to his audience.

- Charles Ives

But maybe music was not intended to satisfy the curious definiteness of man. Maybe it is better to hope that music may always be transcendental language in the most extravagant sense.

- Charles Ives

There can be nothing exclusive about substantial art. It comes directly out of the heart of the experience of life and thinking about life and living life.

- Charles Ives

Vagueness is at times an indication of nearness to a perfect truth.

- Charles Ives

You cannot set art off in a corner and hope for it to have vitality, reality, and substance.

- Charles Ives

If a poet knows more about a horse than he does about heaven, he might better stick to the horse, and some day the horse may carry him into heaven.

- Charles Ives

In 'thinking up' music I usually have some kind of a brass band with wings on it in back of my mind.

- Charles Ives

If a composer has a nice wife and some nice children, how can he let the children starve on his dissonances?

- Charles Ives

Every great inspiration is but an experiment - though every experiment we know, is not a great inspiration.

- Charles Ives

The fabric of existence weaves itself whole.

- Charles Ives