In Bach, the vital cells of music are united as the world is in God.

Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

Beauty and fullness of tone can be achieved by having the whole orchestra play with high clarinets and a carefully selected number of piccolos.

You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion.

The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause.

What is best in music is not to be found in the notes.

A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.

But it's peculiar, as soon as I am in the midst of nature and by myself, everything that is base and trivial vanishes without trace. On such days nothing scares me; and this helps me again and again.

I am hitting my head against the walls, but the walls are giving way.

If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster.

Rule with the heart of a servant. Serve with the heart of a king.

I am convinced the longer I live that life and its blessings are not so entirely unjustly distributed as when we are suffering greatly we are inclined to suppose.

If I can't see the humor in it, how am I going to be funny?

I'm moved by us, our quirks and mistakes.

There is no question we are having a difficult time rounding up the votes.

If you're dumb enough to do crack, you're supposed to die. It's evolution.

I go to parties sometimes until four, it's hard to leave when you can't find the door.

Try to keep ourselves open, no matter how closed the world tries to make us sometimes.

Better to accept the wretched truth than struggle, twisting to make a wish a reality.

Love affairs are the real only education in life.