Ralph Vaughan Williams

"Before going any further may we take it that the object of art is to obtain a partial revelation of that which is beyond human senses and human faculties – of that, in fact, which is spiritual? And th…"

"Art for art's sake has never flourished in England. We are often called inartistic because our art is unconscious. Our drama and poetry, like our laws and our constitution, have evolved by accident wh…"

"It never seems to occur to people that a man might just want to write a piece of music."

"I don't know whether I like it, but it's what I meant."

"There a feeling of recognition, as of meeting an old friend, which comes to us all in the face of great artistic experiences. I had the same experience when I first heard an English folksong, when I f…"

"The art of music above all the other arts is the expression of the soul of a nation."

"The audience is requested not to refrain from talking during the overture. Otherwise they will know all the tunes before the opera begins."

"The duty of the words is to say just as much as the music has left unsaid and no more."