I've never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down.

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.

I don’t think man was meant to attain happiness so easily. Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.

Not to be greedy is, paradoxically, the highest form of looking after one's true interests.

And to fight this beast of wrong is what I intend to do. To do otherwise is to sidestp this rabid injustice.

Keep being crazy. Keep being loud. Be yourself. Because the only thing you have in your life is yourself and your friends.

Lots of small business men have been contacting me to say they wish they had the nerve to say what I said.

The choices you make today design your future

It's the same mysterious exotic oriental fragrance as what the Beatles get off on.

Concept is what makes actors raise their game.

You can't solve problems for someone whose problem is that they don't want problems solved.