For almost thirty years I repeatedly saw one and the same dream: I would arrive in Vienna at long last. I would feel really happy, for I was returning to my serene childhood.

I would wake up in Moscow or somewhere else, my heart beating fast, feeling bitter and helpless.

I am not (yet) facing the problem of emigration. I want my music to be acknowledged here first of all, in this country: after that, we shall see - perhaps the question will then become urgent.

I set down a beautiful chord on paper—and suddenly it rusts.

Do you know that my very first experience as a composer was a 'Concerto for Accordion?

I attempt to compose symphonies, although it is clear to me that logically it is pointless.

For a solo work I need a definite idea. For the present I have none.

To be great is to be misunderstood.

Focus on the things that your dream is demanding from you

I've always loved Jennifer Lopez, and I think, as an entertainer, she is a great example of a strong woman that is also very levelheaded and cool and produces her own content.

It is natural for us to wish that God had designed for us a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less.

Don't divide the world into "them" and "us."

Be on guard, my soul, of complicating your environment so that you have neither time nor room for growth!

Nobody's ever tried the peace thing, ... We are selling it like soap.

I want to enjoy life and I can't if I'm not eating and miserable...

Every game in the NFL is important.

It's traumatizing for me to come to Washington during a Republican administration because I don't have any Republican clothes.