Children frequently sing meaningful phrases to themselves over and over again before they learn to make a distinction between singing and saying.

Quote by David Antin

Topics: David Antin Quotes

I was very committed to the process of composing, working at poems, putting things together...

I was very committed to the process of composing, working at poems, putting things together...

I am quite unsatisfied by the distinctions between the oral and literate.

I am quite unsatisfied by the distinctions between the oral and literate.

I'm standing up thinking. Anybody who wants to listen is welcome. If not, I'm happy...

I'm standing up thinking. Anybody who wants to listen is welcome. If not, I'm happy...

While I've had a great distaste for what's usually called song in modern poetry or...

While I've had a great distaste for what's usually called song in modern poetry or...

I had no idea where these kids at a small private college in the San...

I had no idea where these kids at a small private college in the San...

When you grow up in a family of languages, you develop a kind of casual...

When you grow up in a family of languages, you develop a kind of casual...

I've always had a strong feeling for the Statue of Liberty, because it became the...

I've always had a strong feeling for the Statue of Liberty, because it became the...

Disney made a fortune out of inventing the businessman's idea of the imaginary as the...

Disney made a fortune out of inventing the businessman's idea of the imaginary as the...

The self is an oral society in which the present is constantly running a dialogue...

The self is an oral society in which the present is constantly running a dialogue...

While I don't script and I don't use other performers, I think my taste for...

While I don't script and I don't use other performers, I think my taste for...

I tended to emphasize the secular, the casual, the colloquial, the vernacular against the sacred.

I tended to emphasize the secular, the casual, the colloquial, the vernacular against the sacred.

I can manage a prose format as long as I keep closer to Laurence Sterne...

I can manage a prose format as long as I keep closer to Laurence Sterne...

My way of thinking is very particular and concrete. It doesn't follow a continuous path.

My way of thinking is very particular and concrete. It doesn't follow a continuous path.

I reserve the right to tell shaggy dog stories or even common jokes as part...

I reserve the right to tell shaggy dog stories or even common jokes as part...

Stories are different every time you tell them - they allow so many possible narratives.

Stories are different every time you tell them - they allow so many possible narratives.

My mother turned into a professional widow. She couldn't understand why I wanted to be...

My mother turned into a professional widow. She couldn't understand why I wanted to be...

I was trying to find out what it was that everybody else understood without giving...

I was trying to find out what it was that everybody else understood without giving...

I wanted to be an inventor, whatever I thought that meant then. I guess I...

I wanted to be an inventor, whatever I thought that meant then. I guess I...

It's hard being a hostage in somebody else's mouth - or a character in somebody...

It's hard being a hostage in somebody else's mouth - or a character in somebody...

For several centuries what has passed for song in literary circles was any text that...

For several centuries what has passed for song in literary circles was any text that...