Friday, August 24, 2012

“Life is denied by lack of attention”

At Contrapuntalism, a great statement from Nadia Boulanger: “Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.”

As more and more attractions and distractions compete for our eyes and ears, I think that the ability to pay attention, to attend, will become ever more prized in the twenty-first century.

Two related posts
Free advice for Bill McKibben
Richard Wollheim on looking at art

comments: 2

Pete said...

Seeing the name of that blog immediately reminded me of Tom Lehrer, and his lines in "So Long, Mom":

"While we're attacking frontally, watch Brinkley and Huntley / Describing contrapuntally the cities we have lost."

He cleverly pronounced the newsmen's names as "Brink-a-ley" and "Hunt-a-ley."

Michael Leddy said...

Oh gosh — I borrowed that record from the library again and again in my youth. (Now I own a copy.)