Elfriede Jelinek Quotes

Art is not a Trojan horse.

When discussing Bach’s six Brandenburg concertos, the artistically aware person usually states, among other things, that when these masterpieces were composed, the stars were dancing in heavens. God and his dwelling place are always involved whenever these people talk about Bach.

Beethoven’s sonatas, whether show so much variety that one has to ask oneself the fundamental question of what the much vilified word ‘sonata means. Perhaps Beethoven applied the word to entities that are not even sonatas in the strict sense of the term. One has to perceive new law in the highly dramatic musical form. Often in the sonata, feeling eludes form. In Beethoven, that is not the case, for here the two go hand in hand; feeling makes form aware of a hole in the ground and vice versa.

Art and order, the relative that refuse to relate.

The criteria of art are the imponderable, the immeasurable.

Pain itself is merely a consequence of the desire for pleasure, the desire t destroy, to annihilate; in its supreme form, pain is a variety of pleasure.

A sensitive person gets burned, like a delicate moth.

Der Sensible muß verbrennen, dieser zarte Nachtfalter.

First the masters died, now their music is dying, because people only want to listen to pop, rock, and punk.

After all, people with a herd instinct hold mediocrity in high esteem. They praise it as having great value. They believe they are strong because they are the majority. The middling level has no terrors, no anxieties. They huddle together, indulging in the illusion of warmth. If you’re alone with nothing, and certainly not yourself. And how content they are with that state of affairs!

I have a feeling that you despise your body and that you only value art, you only value your argent needs, but eating and sleeping aren’t enough. You believe that your appearance is your enemy, and the only friend you have is music. Why look just in the mirror, look at your reflection, you’ll never find a better friend that yourself.

Just keep following my tears, and the brook will take you in.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Better to wear worn shoes than to polish the boots of shop owner.

There are no holidays for art; and that’s just fine with the artist.