Salman Rushdie Quotes

Music inspires me and puts me in the right mood, but to actually listen to it when I write - I find it gets in the way.

I can't listen to anything when I write, not even the TV. I do have to listen to music when I drive, though.

I listen to music constantly while writing.

I can't write a line without music - it provides just the right amount of distraction to keep me focused. Clearly, I still miss the noisy roommates.

When I'm working, I always listen to music to zone everyone else out.

I can't listen to music while writing - any such distraction would have dreadful consequences.

I can't listen to music when I'm writing. I like music best in a car or on the train.

I just prefer instrumental. I don't need to hear what other people are singing. And if I need music as a backdrop to work or to think, I need to have that part of the brain clear - I don't need people feeding their fantasies into my vision.

I don't like to listen to music while I'm working.

I rarely listen to music while writing. I wish I could, but it distracts me.

Also, because people like to multitask, in a way if you've got a bit of music on in the background and the lyrical content is making you want to listen to it, then that would probably put you off the texting you wanted to do. I think people like things that just make that right kind of noise, but leave your brain free to do something else.

I literally cannot work without music.

All profound distraction opens certain doors. You have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate.

If I don't already know a song's chord progression, I'll stop writing and try to figure it out. I can occasionally listen to unstructured, amelodic ambient music, but I prefer no music. I don't need silence - I can write just about anywhere - but music is a major distraction.

I always seem to be reading several books at once.

I suppose even when I was growing up, I noticed I was most happy when I was absorbed in something, lost in the moment and forgot the time, whether was conversation, movie, or a game I was playing. That was my definition of happiness. And I was least happy when I was all over the place, distracted and restless.

I listen to lots of music, especially Bach, opera (all periods), German lieder, chamber music, and rock, old and new. I can't listen to music while I write. It's too absorbing.

I never listen to music when I'm writing.

I don't listen to music while writing; it seems to me I'm trying to make my own kind of music, and to have anything else going on is just noisy interference.

When I'm alone, I work sometimes with music, sometimes without and sometimes just listening to NPR.

When I was younger, I was able to write with music playing in the background, but these days, I can't. I find it distracting. Even when the music is just instrumental or has lyrics in a language I don't understand, the clash between the voices in my head and the song can be very disorienting.

I can't just listen to music walking down the street unless I have a reason to. I can't just listen to music as a piece of junk in the background. It drives me insane.

The conductor has the advantage of not seeing the audience.

I always listen to a lot of different music when I am working on a project.

I write in a noisy, distracting world so the books can be read there.