Harrison Birtwistle Quotes
My operas usually come from musical ideas rather than ideas about subject matter.
Quotes to Explore
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I suffer from an amazing amount of insecurities, and I'm grateful that my body image, it's normally not something I pay attention to.
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The first 10 years of my life, I lived as 'Matangi.' When I came to England in '86, my first week of school was terrible because I would put my hand up to answer things, and no one would choose me because they couldn't say my name. My auntie came from Europe to visit us, and she was like, 'Just call yourself something else.'
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After six years without seeing one, I love just seeing a smile - every smile I see gives me hope.
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I think that people who get to a certain position, and then try to ferociously defend it or build on it, it's kind of a dead-end street. You see people becoming miserable that way.
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I tell the government, if people have no jobs, you are in trouble. Government will be in trouble. My job is to help more people have jobs.
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People who are fit are the same as anyone else. The only difference is their level of commitment. If looking good and being fit was easy, everyone would do it! Most people don't want to put in the work or make the sacrifices needed in order to be fit.
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I have my own voice and can focus only on that. I know what I like; I find my inspirations in so many other places than just online and bring that into my work.
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I came into politics by accident. I may go out of politics by accident.
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I think it's OK to be confident in yourself.
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Nantucket was a Quaker-based culture, so they were not readers. There's a great Nantucket-based novel from the 19th century that Melville read for his research for 'Moby-Dick': 'Miriam Coffin' by Joseph Hart.
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I think I have a better sense of my weaknesses - being self-important, selfish and having a big ego probably triggers all the other stuff. I can see myself more clearly.
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Eddie Haas talked a lot about not hitting the ball in the air.
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I'd always wanted to be on Broadway one day, but it seemed like a dream that might be unattainable. This business has a lot of ups and downs and I learned that pretty quickly.
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I got a big mouth.
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Always say 'yes' to the present moment... Surrender to what is. Say 'yes' to life - and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you rather than against you.
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In the early part of the '60s I was influenced by the Ventures.
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I always played sports when I was young. I played football and baseball for eight years. I loved football.
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I love to have fun and goof around and be silly, so anybody who can also do that is good for me.
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Since I was old enough to understand what a songwriter/producer is, I've had a curiosity about how Max Martin creates what he creates. I wanted to see that happen. I wanted to be there. I wanted to learn from him.
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When I was twelve, I started reading Eudora Welty, Thomas Wolfe, Flannery O'Connor, James Agee, and - do we dare breathe the name - William Faulkner.
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There are some very similar moments in the early work where the focus was on drawing, abstraction and fragmentation. Then it moved to the development of ideas. Lately it has become what architecture should be, which is more fluid organization. There has not been so much 'a change' but 'a development'.
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My operas usually come from musical ideas rather than ideas about subject matter.
