35 Quotes by Pierre Schaeffer

Has it struck you that the music which is regarded as the most sublime in western civilization, which is the music of Bach, is called baroque?

Noises have generally been thought of as indistinct, but this is not true.

The whole problem of the sound-work is distancing oneself from the dramatic.

It's ridiculous that time and time again we need a radioactive cloud coming out of a nuclear power-station to remind us that atomic energy is extraordinarily dangerous.

Take a sound from whatever source, a note on a violin, a scream, a moan, a creaking door, and there is always this symmetry between the sound basis, which is complex and has numerous characteristics which emerge through a process of comparison within our perception.

The only hope is that our civilization will collapse at a certain point, as always happens in history. Then, out of barbarity, a renaissance.

The world changes materially. Science makes advances in technology and understanding. But the world of humanity doesn't change.

People who share the same language, French or Chinese or whatever, have the same vocal cords and emit sounds which are basically the same, as they come from the same throats and lungs.

Barbarians always think of themselves as the bringers of civilization.