A full cup of wine at the right time is worth more than all the kingdoms of this earth!

Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

Beauty and fullness of tone can be achieved by having the whole orchestra play with high clarinets and a carefully selected number of piccolos.

You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion.

The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause.

What is best in music is not to be found in the notes.

A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.

But it's peculiar, as soon as I am in the midst of nature and by myself, everything that is base and trivial vanishes without trace. On such days nothing scares me; and this helps me again and again.

I am hitting my head against the walls, but the walls are giving way.

If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster.

The only doors that open are the ones you knock on.

No matter how disappointing you believe your life currently is, it is never too late to start reshaping it to become an amazing testimony.

The trick in life is learning how to deal with it.

If we must not act save on a certainty, we ought not to act on religion, for it is not certain. But how many things we do on an uncertainty, sea voyages, battles!

One big reason I do what I do is there's no two days alike. It's not work for me. It's my life. My passion.

Gold will be slave or master.

Next time say my name. You'll come more

If you set out to meditate, it will not be meditation. If you set out to be good, goodness will never flower.

It is my responsibility to make sure that the fear is overcome… “This attack must instead free our speech about Islamic fundamentalism. We must not be silenced.

Trust, a sense of humor, and don't let the sun go down on an argument without trying to make it up. That's all I know about good marriage. I've been married a long time - it seems to be working.