I realized that the European dogma is not necessarily the only way to look at things.

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 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.

I feel very free and very happy to be a composer.

God will never call you in a direction that would cause you to sin. However, he will call you to be creative enough to find a way to make what you want come true through honorable ways.

I sang a song at my sister's wedding. My mother forced me into that, too. But that one felt all right.

The giant in front of you is never bigger than the God who lives in you.

All the remedies for all the types of conflicts are alike in that they begin by finding the facts rather than by starting a fight.

It's impossible in our postmodern era for anyone to be original - for anybody to do what Jackson Pollock did.

I think I got him hooked on climbing when I gave a slide show at Darmouth. So there's probably another mother out there who hates me.

I dreamed I saw a mighty room, the room was filled with men. And the paper they were signing said they'd never fight again.

You're nothing in America if you don't have debt.

The truth is, I've denied it for years, but I love deconstructing comedy.

Never bored on a hoverboard.