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.

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 feel very free and very happy to be a composer.

The underlying process in Northern music tends to be slower and continuous, whatever's happening on the surface; in Southern music the underlying process is always faster.

Live to learn and you'll learn to live.from the book 'I Know Who You Are!

I always tell my staff, "Better is good." I'll take better every time, because better is hard.

A power of Butterfly must be - The Aptitude to fly Meadows of Majesty concedes And easy Sweeps of Sky -

I find politicians so desperately boring. I don't trust them and don't believe in them.

How you played in yesterday's game is all that counts.

We're giving jobs to people who would otherwise be out of work if we weren't exploiting cheap labor.

If thou canst see sharp, look and judge wisely, says the philosopher.

In many walks of life, a conscience is a more expensive encumbrance than a wife or a carriage.

A man ought to work. That's what he's here for. That's how he contributes to the welfare of the community.

Stay strong. Depression lies.