I don't go around regretting things that don't happen.

I said to my friends that if I was going to starve, I might as well starve where the food is good.

Try a thing you haven't done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.

In Paris, you learn wit, in London you learn to crush your social rivals, and in Florence you learn poise.

I seem to write an opera about every 20 years; if you live long enough you can write four operas. I finished my third in 1970.

Let your mind alone, and see what happens.

The way to write American music is simple. All you have to do is be an American and then write any kind of music you wish.

I listened to the pure crystalline notes of one of Mozart's concertos dropping at my feet like leaves from the trees.

I've never known a musician who regretted being one. Music itself is not going to let you down.

A libretto that should never have been accepted on a subject that should never have been chosen bya man who should never have attempted it.

Reviewing music or reviewing anything is a writing job. It's nice if you are experienced in the field you are writing about, but writing is what you are doing.

Art is only important to the extent that it aids in the liberation of our people.

We are inside soft, sweet and pure white despair.

In Western culture, the 'miracles' referenced in scripture seem to have been relegated to the past as if to imply that they were reserved exclusively for certain historical periods.

I've spent more on my Dodger tickets that I did on my car.

The New Deals enmity for that system of free and competitive private enterprise which we call capitalism was fundamental.

I think that the special thing about radio is the off switch. If something's not pleasing you, turn it off.

The Foxhall jaw has now been missing for many years.

It [Catholicism] supplies a multitude of external forms in which the spiritual may be clothed and manifested.

I don't believe in luck; it's just dedication to the technique plus good physical condition.

I had no way of knowing where it began or where it ended. Only that it flowed without restraint.