Tavener Quotes & Sayings

My way towards God has been to write music. — John Tavener

Every woman I have known has actually deepened my spiritual awareness. Even if I have been a selfish man and treated them badly ... There were two women, I won't name them, who had a powerful religious effect on me. The ancient idea of a muse is there. — John Tavener

The path I follow is still an Orthodox path. You have to follow a path; otherwise, it becomes a little bit new-age, a bit of this, a bit of that. — John Tavener

William Tavener never heeded ominous forecasts in the domestic horizon, and he never looked for a storm until it broke. — Willa Cather

I think I've been very lucky all my life because the writing and the faith seem to go together. — John Tavener

'Canticum Sacrum' is wonderfully archaic. What Stravinsky does is extraordinary. It takes you on a journey from Gregorian chant right through to the modernism of Webern - and all in 17 minutes. — John Tavener

I've always been aware of mortality because I've always had ill health most of my life. — John Tavener

When I talk of primordial innocence, I hear it in Sufi music with the nay flute. I see it in Coptic icons, in most traditional art, particularly art of the American Indian. I find the texts extraordinarily beautiful and very childlike and very simple. I've been particularly interested in American Indian texts. — John Tavener

I've got great joy from rediscovering Western music. I love Schumann and Chopin, and those amazing symphonies of Bruckner. — John Tavener

'The Whale' was in the category of so-called serious music, and yet it brings together a wide series of musical styles. It was influenced by people such as The Beatles, the spirit of the times, and I think 'The Whale' certainly had a pop element to it. — John Tavener

The thing I regret most about my life are those inane photos of me with icons. They used to come down here and dress me up, and I just tolerated it. It's my fault. But I shouldn't have done it. They literally brought down costumes, candles, and icons! It was unbelievable stupidity. — John Tavener

Hildegard von Bingen conveys spiritual ecstasy, if we're talking of Western music. What bothers me about Western music is that it doesn't have an esoteric dimension in the way the music of the East has, whether it be Byzantine chant, the music of the Sufis, or Hindu music. — John Tavener

Recently though, our State Governments have discussed instigating a carbon trading scheme - the details are still to be decided - and that's an encouraging sign. — Peter Garrett

To forgive does not mean to condone. — Allan Lokos

We seem to have lost our contact with the primordial: the idea of - call it divine revelation as opposed to something that's learned by the human intellect - something that, if you lay yourself completely open, and you just open your heart completely, something will actually come into it. — John Tavener

In this matter, you should not concern yourself for my sake. — Amy Tan

I can't get my wrists to bleed, just don't know why suicide appeals to me. — Alice Cooper

I can't eat. I can never eat when I'm in the depths of despair. — Anne Shirley

I was having these terrible back pains, and then one day in Switzerland, things got very bad. My wife Maryanna called the hotel doctor, but I don't remember any of this, I was out of it. I had an operation, and I was nearly lost. — John Tavener

Time is a concrete product — Sunday Adelaja

My consultant keeps telling me sudden death could come at any moment. — John Tavener

In his late quartets, Beethoven introduces an element that shouldn't be there, that should be left for meditation, though I love them. I can see that through them came Wagner and Mahler and Schoenberg and Berg. And then came Tracey Emin. And I can see it all as one downward path. — John Tavener

I've written a very long piece of music recently, the 'Veil of the Temple,' which lasts about seven hours. It's really a kind of vigil. It takes place during the night, waiting for the resurrection of Christ. — John Tavener

Don't Wait! Start on your dreams, your impulses, your longings, your special occasions today. Because this is your moment. — Mary Anne Radmacher

I don't think Beethoven expresses religious truth. He expresses a human truth. — John Tavener

Hey! I don't have to put up with this! I'm rich! — Daphne Zuniga

Forgive me. I thought you were protesting the blood because you didn't want me to bond you to me." "What?" This was something entirely new to consider. "You bonded me to you? As in for life? For all eternity?" "For as long as I live, anyway," Corbin said. "It was the only way to save your life. I had taken too much of your blood - you were dying, Addison." His tone took on a pleading tone. "Please tell me you would not rather be dead than bound to me." "I could ask you to say the same thing," I pointed out. "You were checking out on me without even telling me first." "I didn't think you cared." His deep voice was soft, almost wistful. "Well, I do. I love you, damn it," I said, poking him in the chest again. — Evangeline Anderson

In my dreams of this city I am always lost. — Margaret Atwood

Once you see the drivers in Indonesia you understand why religion plays such a part in their lives. — Erma Bombeck

At every step of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend. — John Stott

I used to think there was something dirty about being paid for something which is a sacred thing to do. I can't disconnect the act of writing music from the act of prayer. If anyone tries to stop me working, it feels like someone is trying to stop me from taking communion. — John Tavener

Every time I have a hit, I buy a Rolls. — John Tavener

I think there will always be a possibility that God doesn't exist because He is infinitude and into that infinitude must come that possibility. — John Tavener

Truth is an axe. Without judgement it's swung in great circles, wounding everybody, — Mark Lawrence

Suffering is a kind of ecstasy in a way. Having pain all the time makes me terribly, terribly grateful for every moment I've got. — John Tavener

I don't hate pop music. I liked the Beatles, but then, I knew them. — John Tavener

A pessimist is one who builds dungeons in the air. — Walter Winchell

The music is something outside myself that's also inside myself ... Music and a sense of another presence always went hand in hand. Even when I was three, I would improvise music, and my maternal grandfather would act as an audience and used to applaud. I would imitate things like thunder and rain. — John Tavener