I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.
– John Cage
I have nothing to say, I am saying it, and that is poetry.
– John Cage
If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.
– John Cage
The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.
– John Cage
The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation.
– John Cage
There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.
– John Cage
There is poetry as soon as we realize that we possess nothing.
– John Cage
We need not destroy the past. It is gone.
– John Cage
If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience.
– John Cage
We are involved in a life that passes understanding and our highest business is our daily life.