Dmitri Shostakovich

“When a man is in despair, it means that he still believes in something.”

“If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.”

“A creative artist works on his next composition because he was not satisfied with his previous one.”

“Real music is always revolutionary, for it cements the ranks of the people; it arouses them and leads them onward.”

“My symphonies are tombstones.”

“Art destroys silence.”

“Football is the ballet of the masses.”

“Formalism is music that people don't understand at first hearing.”

“Music illuminates a person and provides him with his last hope.”

“The majority of my symphonies are tombstones. I’m not exaggerating. Too many of our people died and were buried in places unknown to anyone, not even their relatives.”

“I live in the USSR, my autobiography is a part of the autobiography of my country.”

“There can be no music without an ideology.”