I can almost always write music; at any hour of the twenty-four, if I put pencil to paper, music comes.

The red and white and starry blue Is freedom's shield and hope.

I am happy now, to recall that I was not only his son but his companion, and whenever there was a hunting expedition or any other pleasure, I was always with him.

Dance as though no one is watching. Love as though you've never been hurt. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.

Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.

A band is only as good as its euphonium section.

I have always believed that 98% of a student's progress is due to his own efforts, and 2% to his teacher.

From childhood I was passionately fond of music and wanted to be a musician. I have no recollection of any real desire ever to be anything else.

Remember always that the composer's pen is still mightier than the bow of the violinist; in you lie all the possibilities of the creation of beauty.

There is one thing that freezes a musician more than the deadliest physical cold, and that is the spiritual chill of an unresponsive audience!

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.

The duel may go on for long, but the self-defense often wins over the self-reproach.

Pittsburgh was even more vital, more creative, more hungry for culture than New York. Pittsburgh was the birthplace of my writing.

Honestly, being a part of any worthy life story is a goal of mine.

Dead bodies didn't resemble unconscious ones; it was as if you could sense that something had fled from them, that some essential spark was now missing.

It is Christian culture that has created Western man and the Western way of life.

A neurotic is a man who builds a castle in the air. A psychotic is the man who lives in it. A psychiatrist is the man who collects the rent.

I'm from that world where I feel so comfortable making small independent movies.

When he'd sworn at her and been sworn at in return, they became great friends.

It is not enough to be exceptionally mad, licentious and fanatical in order to win a great reputation; it is still necessary to arrive on the scene at the right time.

Management does not know what a system is.