Nadia Boulanger Quotes
Born: September 16, 1887
Nadia Boulanger, the legendary composition teacher who shaped 20th-century music, was a relentless architect of creative discipline. Her philosophy was not about waiting for inspiration but forging it through rigorous craft, declaring that the love of one’s work is the only true motivation. As the mentor to Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, and countless others, she taught that action precedes genius—that the soul is expressed not in dreams, but in the daily, unglamorous labor of creation. Her quotes resonate because they strip away excuses, offering a fierce, maternal call to rise, to work, and to let doing define the self.
Nadia Boulanger Quotes (7)
"The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love, passion."
— Nadia Boulanger"I've been a woman for a little over 50 years and have gotten over my initial astonishment. As for conducting an orchestra, that's a job where I don't think sex plays much part."
— Nadia Boulanger"A great work is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty."
— Nadia Boulanger"Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to all his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult."
— Nadia Boulanger"Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece."
— Nadia Boulanger"Do not take up music unless you would rather die than not do so."
— Nadia Boulanger"Everything we know by heart enriches us and helps us find ourselves. If it should get in the way of finding ourselves, it is because we have no personality."
— Nadia Boulanger