"What would be really interesting for people to see is how beautiful things grow out of shit . . . . Nobody ever believes [that it happens that way]. Everybody thinks that Beethoven had his string quartets completely in his head, that it somehow appeared there and formed in his head, and all he had to do was write them down . . . What would really be a lesson that everybody should learn is that . . . things come out of nothing. Things evolve out of nothing. The tiniest seed in the right situation turns into the most beautiful forest, and then, the most promising seed in the wrong situation turns into nothing. . . .I think this would be important for people to understand because it gives people confidence in their own lives to know that that’s how things work. If you walk around with the idea that there are some people who are so gifted, that they have these wonderful things in their head, but you’re not one of them, you’re just sort of . . . a 'normal' person. [But with this insight], you could have another kind of life. You could say, 'Well, I know that things come from nothing very much and start from unpromising beginnings, and I’m an unpromising beginning -- I could start something." - Brian Eno
