AUDEN

A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become.

No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.

...see without looking, ...hear without listening...breathe without asking.

To save your world you asked this man to die;
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?
[Epitaph for an Unknown Soldier]

When one has great gifts, what answer to the meaning of existence should one require beyond the right to exercise them?