Central Idea Quotes

the central idea of secession, is the essence of anarchy.

One God idea is worth more than a thousand good ideas.

We're always looking for the backbone, the central idea, and once you have that you know everything can circle around it.

To me, the essence of the music is the most important thing.

All that matters is that the thing be the thing of the thing.

It can even be a single note which defines the entire song.

If I were asked to name, in one word, the pole star round which the mathematical firmament revolves, the central idea which pervades the whole corpus of mathematical doctrine, I should point to Continuity as contained in our notions of space, and say, it is this, it is this!

"Unputdownable" is, I suppose, something we all dream of, maybe without knowing it. I realized, some time ago, that a novel can hold a lot, and it made sense that this one was not of the sleek and economical variety, but instead the "full" type. Novel as piñata. And the reader does the whacking. I had a central idea, which is to look at what happens to talent over time.

My proposal happens to be very mainstream.

My reflection, when I first made myself master of the central idea of the 'Origin', was, 'How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!'

Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter heart and soul into the life of the music and the tale it unfolds?

When you think about the word 'quintessentially', it's about trying to get to the very essence of something.

Everybody has a theme. You talk to somebody awhile, and you realize they have one particular thing that rules them. The best you can do is a variation on the theme, but that's about it.

A garden scheme should have a backbone - a central idea beautifully phrased.

Even one word, or certainly one sentence, should be able to describe the basic characteristic that the scene has, or the character has, or the story has. And then you begin to detail that one spine, and you have offshoots from that spine, and it becomes more and more complex, but all of it stems from that one-word, one-line theme, which can give the character, the scene, or the play its uniqueness.

Every business is a monarchy with, not a man, but an idea as king.

I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.

Sometime I write a song off a central idea, instead of emotion.

It's a matter of reducing the work to its very simplest possible state, eliminating all of the things that lead away from the guts of the work, the thing the work is really about. Anything that's there must build towards its over-all organization and meaning.

Permit me also to express my great admiration of the thoughts expressed by you, with such eloquent simplicity & appropriateness, at the consecration of the cemetery. I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.

The occasion of this sadness is expressed in a word, but must be considered in many more, as being the principal concernment both of the Text and Time.

The best movies have one sentence that they're exploring, a thesis, something that people can argue about over dinner afterward.

I used to teach at the Columbia journalism school, and I would tell my students that every book has to have a sentence that motivates it.

The melody is generally what the piece is all about.