It is easy to write unthinking music.

If we look at music history closely, it is not difficult to isolate certain elements of great potency which were to nourish the art of music for decades, if not centuries.

Although technical discussions are interesting to composers, I suspect that the truly magical and spiritual powers of music arise from deeper levels of our psyche.

The rhythms of nature - the sounds of wind and water, the sounds of birds and insects - must inevitably find their analogues in music.

Perhaps two million years ago the creatures of a planet in some remote galaxy faced a musical crisis similar to that which we earthly composers face today.

The retrospective glance is a relatively easy gesture for us to make.

The advent of electronically synthesized sound after World War II has unquestionably had enormous influence on music in general.

Perhaps of all the most basic elements of music, rhythm most directly affects our central nervous system.

I believe that music surpasses even language in its power to mirror the innermost recesses of the human soul

Music might be defined as a system of proportions in the service of a spiritual impulse

I am certain that most composers today would consider today's music to be rich, not to say confusing, in its enormous diversity of styles, technical procedures, and systems of esthetics.

It is worth living long enough to outlast whatever sense of grievance you may acquire.

My native land is a slave of heathenism, men's god is their belly, and they live only for the present. The richer a man, the holier.

Sometimes you lose some tournaments you should win and you win some you should lose.

The marketplace obliges men, whether they will or not, in pursuing their own selfish interests, to connect the general good with their own individual success.

He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt.

Empty and cold, but it keep me alive. I gave it my soul, so that I could survive.

Letting go gives us freedom and freedom is the only condition for happiness

Ive always felt robbed of something by people not knowing I was a Jew.

It's tough to stay married. My wife says no because she's tired then stays up and reads her book.

Think not silence the wisdom of fools; but, if rightly timed, the honor of wise men, who have not the infirmity, but the virtue of taciturnity.