If we understood the world, we would realize that there is a logic of harmony underlying its manifold apparent dissonances.

Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been erected to a critic.

Music begins where the possibilities of language end.

All the doctors who wanted to forbid me to smoke and to drink are dead.

Music is, for me, like a beautiful mosaic which God has put together. He takes all the pieces in his hand, throws them into the world, and we have to recreate the picture from the pieces.

If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price. Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.

Music is on a higher plane than everything else in this world.

Whereas most other modern composers are engaged in manufacturing cocktails of every hue and description, I offer the public cold spring water.

I often conduct an orchestra in my sleep; my orchestras are so huge that the back desks of the violas vanish into the horizon. And everything is so wonderful.

Millions of years ago, in my previous incarnations, I must have been related to swans... because I can still feel that affinity.

The framework of a symphony must be so strong that it forces you to follow it, regardless of the environment and circumstances.

You were created, fashioned and designed in a special form to leave in the world something that did not exist before you were born!

I love your roots, not the flower everybody sees!

Patience is the ability to accept trouble, suffering, delay without getting angry or upset, I feel like if you can master patience you can master anything.

How shall I be able to rule over others, that have not full power and command of myself?

When there is no thought in the mind, no thought of thought, when the mind is quiet but fully alert, we experience a little bit of enlightenment.

If I never won a Grammy, I would be satisfied, if in fact I could help people. I don't say that because it sounds like something cool to say.

Keep building and supporting new tools, technologies, and platforms to empower independence, interoperability, and web property ownership.

It's said that if two documentary filmmakers meet they talk about the world, if two fiction filmmakers meet they talk about the million that they don't have to make their film.

Not writing would be like going the rest of your life without having dreams.

Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.