I am optimistic about the future of music.

If we look at music history closely, it is not difficult to isolate certain elements of great potency which were to nourish the art of music for decades, if not centuries.

Although technical discussions are interesting to composers, I suspect that the truly magical and spiritual powers of music arise from deeper levels of our psyche.

The rhythms of nature - the sounds of wind and water, the sounds of birds and insects - must inevitably find their analogues in music.

Perhaps two million years ago the creatures of a planet in some remote galaxy faced a musical crisis similar to that which we earthly composers face today.

The retrospective glance is a relatively easy gesture for us to make.

The advent of electronically synthesized sound after World War II has unquestionably had enormous influence on music in general.

Perhaps of all the most basic elements of music, rhythm most directly affects our central nervous system.

I believe that music surpasses even language in its power to mirror the innermost recesses of the human soul

Music might be defined as a system of proportions in the service of a spiritual impulse

I am certain that most composers today would consider today's music to be rich, not to say confusing, in its enormous diversity of styles, technical procedures, and systems of esthetics.

The forecast iswe kiss goodbye and never helloall kisses are then parting kisses

We have enough proof that, at least my generation does, that patriarchy and matriarchy are gender-less roles.

'The Sopranos' is filled with really retrograde humor. Bathroom humor, falls, stupid puns, bad jokes - infantile, adolescent stuff, but it makes me laugh.

Cheesecake Factory is great. It should have Michelin stars.

The American people have elected their president and my vote doesn't count in the U.S.

Article 50 governs the exit from the European Union and here there can also be no renegotiation.

Go and do, don't sit and stew.

Miracles arise from our ignorance of nature, not from nature itself.

A memoir should have some uplifting quality, inspiring or illuminating, and that's what separates a life story that can influence other people.

Might we not say that every child at play behaves like a creative writer, in that he creates a world of his own, or, rather, rearranges the things of his world in a new way which pleases him?