235 Quotes by John Cage

Freedom from likes and dislikes, the sudden sense of identification, the spirit of comedy.

All great art is a form of complaint

...for we have found that by excluding we grow thin inside even though we may have an enormous bank account outside.

Art is sort of an experimental station in which one tries out living

I have attempted briefly here to set forth a view of the arts which does not separate them from the rest of life, but rather confuses the difference between Art and Life.

There is poetry as soon as we realize that we possess nothing.

College: two hundred people reading the same book. An obvious mistake. Two hundred people can read two hundred books.

Computer mistake in grade-giving resulted in academic failure of several brilliant students. After some years the mistake was discovered. Letter was sent to each student inviting him to resume his studies. Each replied he was getting along very well without education.

Veblen called it the price-system. Mills called it the Power Elite. It's probably no more than ninety-nine people who don't know what they are doing. They're involved in high finance. Fascinating form of gambling.