"I am not in the habit of rewriting my compositions. I never
did it because I am profoundly convinced that every change of
detail changes the character of the whole." -- Ludwig van Beethoven

(February 19, 1813, to George Thomson, who had requested some
changes in compositions submitted to him for publication.)

Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in His Own Words

"Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to
a fine racer, and counterpointists to hack post-horses; therefore
be advised, let well alone and remember the old Italian proverb:
Chi sa piu, meno sa--'Who knows most, knows least.'" -- W. A. Mozart

(To the English tenor Michael Kelly, about 1786, in answer to
Kelly's question whether or not he should take up the study of
counterpoint.)

"If one has the talent it pushes for utterance and torments
one; it will out; and then one is out with it without
questioning. And, look you, there is nothing in this thing of
learning out of books. Here, here and here (pointing to his ear,
his head and his heart) is your school. If everything is right
there, then take your pen and down with it; afterward ask the
opinion of a man who knows his business." -- W. A. Mozart

(To a musically talented boy who asked Mozart how one might learn to compose.)

"Playing and composing was like a religion for me, and then it became a profession" -- Jan A.P. Kaczmarek

The Music of Jan AP Kaczmarek

"The constant searching for new ways of using film music was one of things I was most interested in. I have tried more conventional forms as well, just for the fun of it." --Howard Shore

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In POETRY IN THE MAKING (1970) Hughes stated that there is no ideal form of poetry or writing. His poetry ranged from free verse to highly structured forms and rhyme schemes. He gradually abandoned traditional forms and stated that the "very sound of metre calls up the ghosts of the past and it is difficult to sing one's own tune against the choir."

Ted Hughes (1930-1998) - byname of Edward J. Hughes

"I think of poems as a short of animals. They have their own life, like animals, by which I mean that they seem quite separate from any person, even from their author, and nothing can be added to them or taken away without maiming and perhaps even killing them. And they have a certain wisdom. they know something special... something perhaps which we are very curious to learn" --Ted Huges

"may i feel said he
(i’ll squeal said she
just once said he)
it’s fun said she" -- E.E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings

An Unofficial EE Cummings Starting Point

When he arrived at Oxford as an undergraduate, W. H. Auden went to see his tutor in literature, who asked the young man what he meant to do in later life. "I am going to be a poet," Auden answered. "Ah, yes," replied the tutor, and began a small lecture on verse exercises improving one's prose. Auden scowled. "You don't understand at all," he interrupted. "I mean a great poet."

W.H.Auden. Selected poems

"Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers." -- T. S. Eliot

What the Thunder Said

"I like any and all of my associations with music – writing, playing, and listening. We write and play from our perspective, and the audience listens from its perspective. If and when we agree, I am lucky." -- Duke Ellington

Official Web Site of Duke Ellington