"The trick with computers I think, is to approach old and new things with the same reverence as you would like your favourite chair and not be seduced by the constant innovation otherwise you never do anything"
About this Quote
The subtext is a musician’s suspicion of endless gear talk. In recording, computers invite a particular kind of procrastination that feels virtuous: the plug-in update, the DAW switch, the new workflow that promises to finally unlock your sound. Greenwood calls that seduction what it is - a narrative of perpetual becoming that keeps you from finishing the track. Innovation becomes not a tool but a mood, and the mood replaces the work.
“Old and new things with the same reverence” is a neat reversal. Reverence is usually reserved for vintage instruments, analog consoles, pre-digital purity myths. Greenwood spreads that respect evenly, which is less technophobic than it is anti-hype. The chair image does the heavy lifting: it’s intimate, unsexy, slightly worn, chosen over time. It suggests that the best relationship with a computer is boring in the most productive way.
Contextually, this feels born from decades of watching music-making migrate into screens, where possibility is infinite and decisions are optional. Greenwood’s warning isn’t against computers; it’s against the endless postponement that computers, and the innovation economy around them, so efficiently enable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Technology |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Greenwood, Colin. (2026, January 17). The trick with computers I think, is to approach old and new things with the same reverence as you would like your favourite chair and not be seduced by the constant innovation otherwise you never do anything. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-trick-with-computers-i-think-is-to-approach-44460/
Chicago Style
Greenwood, Colin. "The trick with computers I think, is to approach old and new things with the same reverence as you would like your favourite chair and not be seduced by the constant innovation otherwise you never do anything." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-trick-with-computers-i-think-is-to-approach-44460/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The trick with computers I think, is to approach old and new things with the same reverence as you would like your favourite chair and not be seduced by the constant innovation otherwise you never do anything." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-trick-with-computers-i-think-is-to-approach-44460/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.
