I had gotten to the point where I was either going to play the violin much better or I was going to break it over my knee.

When you try to do something you've never done before, you risk falling on your face.

Composition can't really be taught, it is a lifelong learning.

All talk of method and style seemed suddenly trivial; I became interested in meaning. I wanted to say something musically about life and living.

If you're a composer, there's never a moment you're not working.

The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.

Improving the world can be a nasty and ugly and difficult and dangerous business...because when you improve the world, you threaten the entrenched interests of evil people.

Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man.

More data is not always the answer.

Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.

When every one of your arguments is characterized an attempt to bring back slavery or resegregate lunch counters, it's a little hard to have any sort of productive debate.

I'm not afraid of Spassky. The world knows I'm the best. You don't need a match to prove it.

I'd like to play for you one of my compositions, my only composition.

I'm somebody who seems to stumble into things 10 or 20 years before the rest of the world does.

Industry has annexed thereto the fairest fruits and the richest rewards.