Songs are thoughts which are sung out with the breath when people let themselves be moved by a great force, and ordinary speech no longer suffices.

A person is moved like an ice-floe which drifts on the current. His thoughts are driven by a flowing force when he feels joy, when he feels fear, when he feels sorrow. Thoughts can surge in on him, causing him to gasp for breath, and making his heart beat faster. Something like a softening of the weather will keep him thawed. And then it will happen that we, who always think of ourselves as small, will feel even smaller. And we will hesitate before using words. But it will happen that the words we need will come of themselves.—When the words we need shoot up of themselves—we have a new song. —Orpingalik, tr. Tom Lowenstein, quoted in Orion's Legacy.