Don't bother looking at the view - I have already composed it.

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.

Why, if it was an illusion, not praise the catastrophe, whatever it was, that destroyed illusion and put truth in it's place?

Don't let someone get comfortable with disrespecting you.

I'm of the opinion and quite certain that our 'personal histories' with God are meant to be well informed by the Scriptures

Whenever I wasn't watching the planes, I was playing community baseball, football, or something like that.

Rock is all about writing your own script; it's all about pioneering.

A big 'thank you' to George Demetrion for helping readers see that the center does hold. A wise and winsome work.

I'm married to Metallica.

I'm lonely and I'm still kind of searching for someone I can have a real connection with.

Never doubt God's desire or ability to help you.

A weapon you held and didn't know how to use belonged to your enemy.