Benjamin Britten Quotations

The old idea of a composer suddenly having a terrific idea and sitting up all night to write it is nonsense. Nighttime is for sleeping.

These two are not two Love has made them one Amo Ergo Sum! And by its mystery Each is no less but more.

It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature and everlasting beauty of monotony.

Composing is like driving down a foggy road toward a house. Slowly you see more details of the house-the color of the slates and bricks, the shape of the windows. The notes are the bricks and the mortar of the house.

It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful.

These two are not two, love has made them one. Amo Ergo Sum! And by its mystery each is no less but more.

I am an arrogant and impatient listener, but in the case of a few composers, a very few, when I hear a work I do not like, I am convinced that it is my own fault. Verdi is one of those composers.

Music does not excite until it is performed.

The model of a composer.

Composing is like driving down a foggy road.

One day I'll be able to relax a bit, and try and become a good composer.

I liked the opera very much. Everything but the music.

The restaurant is like a theatre: we do two shows a day and when you are doing Shakespeare you don't want to throw in something out of Walt Disney.