I think I can only help to expose percussion to all sorts of people. The balance between the lighter and more serious side is important.

I try to plant myself where I am and embrace what is there in front of me.

Holidays are about experiences and people, and tuning into what you feel like doing at that moment. Enjoy not having to look at a watch.

I'm not a deaf musician. I'm a musician who happens to be deaf.

Percussion is the most adaptable family of instruments. The biggest challenge is to project percussion in a lyrical way.

Music really is our daily medicine.

When I was 12, I happened to see a schoolmate playing percussion, and it looked interesting. I asked for lessons, and it felt right.

I walk into a kids' store, and it's amazing, the types of instruments - little squeaky things, rattling things, spinning tops.

A large part of my work has been collaborating with composers; I think we've commissioned about 140 pieces now, a lot of them percussion concertos.

Hearing is a form of touch. You feel it through your body, and sometimes it almost hits your face.

I hope the seeds I have sown will be taken up by those who will follow me because the journey I have begun cannot be undertaken in isolation.

The poor lack much, the greedy everything.

We've climbed the mighty mountain. I see the valley below, and it's a valley of peace.

It's better to die doing good than to live doing evil.

For me, President Obama is our best choice because he has a vision of the United States as a place where we are all in this together.

I really don't know what's good or bad art because all the art I like people tell me is tasteless.

Read heavily in the area where you want to write. Be aware of what's selling and what's doing well but don't try to write to market trends; they are fleeting.

Live and let live is the rule of common justice.

What does democracy come down to? The persuasive power of slogans invented by wily self-seeking politicians.

[the war in Iraq] "could have terrifically good effects troughout the Middle East

It is to the middle-class we must look for the safety of England.