Brian Eno Quotes

United Kingdom, Musician
May 15, 1948

Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno is an English musician, record producer, and visual artist. He is best known for his pioneering work in ambient music and contributions to rock, pop, electronic, and generative music. A self-described "non-musician", Eno has helped introduce a variety of conceptual approaches and recording techniques to contemporary music, advocating a methodology of "theory over practice, serendipity over forethought, and texture over craft" according to AllMusic.

Also known as Record Producer, Visual Artist

Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
I've always thought that art is a lie, an interesting lie. And I'll sort of listen to the "lie" and try to imagine the world which makes that lie true...what that world must be like, and what would have to happen for us to get from this world to that one.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- World
- Art
- Listen

A lot of the so-called systems composers have this thing that the system is always right. You don't fiddle with it at all. Well, I don't think that. I think the system is as right as you judge it to be. If for some reason you don't like a bit of it you must trust your intuition on that. I don't take a doctrinaire approach to systems.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
I wanted to get rid of the element that had been considered essential in pop music: the voice.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- Music
I'm always interested in something when it isn't familiar to me.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- Interested
- Familiar
I still do mostly listen to CDs. I think that every format really is a different way of listening. If you take a different sort of psychological stance to it - like, I think the transition from vinyl to CD definitely marked a difference in the way people treated music. The vinyl commands a certain kind of reverence because it's a big object and quite fragile so you handle it rather carefully, and it's expensive so you pay attention to how it's looked after.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
The point about working is not to produce great stuff all the time, but to remain ready for when you can.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- Time
- Working
- Produce
All the best lyrics are written in ten minutes.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- Lyrics
- Written
- Minutes

I occasionally meet people and they say, 'Oh, I was born to Discreet Music'... They always have very weird eyes, those people.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- People
- Music
- Meet
I have lived in countries that were coming out of conflict: Ireland, South Africa, the Czech republic. People there are overflowing with energy.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- People
- Energy
I'm actually an evangelical atheist, but there is something I recognise about religion: that it gives people a chance to surrender.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- People
- Atheist
Set up a situation that presents you with something slightly beyond your reach.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- Up
People who are very confident in themselves aren't hurt by criticism. They make use of it.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
Given the chance, i'll die like a baby, on some faraway beach, when the season's over.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- Chance
- Baby
- Beach

I see TV as a picture medium rather than a narrative medium.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- Picture
It's easy to forget that your best work is done when your attention is fully engaged.

Brian Eno Roxy Music
- Attention
- Forget
- Engaged
Listening to something is an act of surrender.

Brian Eno Roxy Music