I always had, deep down, a slight aversion toward the purely cerebral in music.

Once you get over the first hill, there is always a new, higher one lurking, of course.

There will have to be times when I'm not conducting because I'm composing. I haven't solved that problem, and perhaps I never will.

Orchestras have become used to the emphasis on the separation of layers, of the ultimate precision and clarity.

As we watch TV or films, there are no organic transitions, only edits. The idea of A becoming B, rather than A jumping to B, has become foreign.

The act of conducting in itself, of waving my arms in the air and being in charge, I didn't miss. I missed the sensual pleasure of being in contact with music.

My music wouldn't sound the way it does if I hadn't had the experience of conducting.

Pulse as an active means of expression, Stravinsky and Beethoven are the two masters of that.

This conducting thing happened. In 1983 I was sucked into this international career, which was a very scary experience.

I discovered that the people of the North are different and there's no way you can make a person from the North similar to a Southerner. They're two different worlds.

I feel very free and very happy to be a composer.

I'm more married to Sandy now than when we were married with the legal document. We're still married as parents.

We must take away the government's credit card. With limits on both tax revenue and borrowing, the Federal government would finally be forced to get serious about spending cuts

I love Adele, I want her to be my best friend. She could come to the U.S., live with me and sing to me every morning.

Always gone but never hard to find.. And since you can't escape me, do I ever cross your mind?

To God everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans, however, think some things are unjust and others just.

It is more difficult to fight poverty in a rich country than in a poor one.

Things ain't like they say they be, but they do!

Sometimes writing a novel is not unlike having a baby. You'd have to ask a female novelist to compare the pain.

If you want sympathy, look for a friend, but if you want honesty, an enemy might be the best friend you ever had.