Composing is like driving down a foggy road.

The old idea of a composer suddenly having a terrific idea and sitting up all night to write it is nonsense. Nighttime is for sleeping.

It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful.

Music does not excite until it is performed.

I am an arrogant and impatient listener, but in the case of a few composers, a very few, when I hear a work I do not like, I am convinced that it is my own fault. Verdi is one of those composers.

One day I'll be able to relax a bit, and try and become a good composer.

I liked the opera very much. Everything but the music.

These two are not two, love has made them one. Amo Ergo Sum! And by its mystery each is no less but more.

The model of a composer.

I am an arrogant and impatient listener but in the case of a few composers a very few when I hear a work I do not like I am convinced that it is my own fault. Verdi is one of those composers.

Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.

Surviving is one thing, " he said quietly, his voice suddenly calmer, "but you've got to have a reason to do it. There's no point in living if you don't have anything worth living for.

Forgiveness is a mystical act, not a reasonable one.

If you're going to generalize about women, you'll find yourself up to here in exceptions.

God is Dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown. And we - we still have to vanquish his shadow, too.

Normally, what happens when we have a national leader who wants to do something in terms of military intervention, he tells the Pentagon, put together some options to accomplish goal.

A place to go - that's what my mother always instilled in me. You need a place to go. And you're worthless unless you have a place to go.

What I have desired to do is to make the people of Boston realize that the most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.

There are no perfect men of course, but some are more perfect than others, and we can use all of those we can get.

The only certainty is that there is no certainty.