It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.

One should never forget that by actually perfecting one piece one gains and learns more than by starting or half-finishing a dozen.

The idea comes to me from outside of me - and is like a gift. I then take the idea and make it my own - that is where the skill lies.

Study Bach. There you will find everything.

If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon.

Reviewer: 'One of your themes was very similar to one of Beethoven's!' Brahms replied, 'Of course it is. Everyone steals - the important thing is to do it brilliantly.

It is a real pleasure to see music so bright and spontaneous expressed with corresponding ease and grace.

If we cannot write with the beauty of Mozart, let us at least try to write with his purity.

The only true immortality lies in one's children.

Straight-away the ideas flow in upon me, directly from God, and not only do I see distinct themes in my mind's eye, but they are clothed in the right forms, harmonies, and orchestration.

Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.

By today’s standards, if you go by the early morning TV misery shows, my broken home family of mixed parentage siblings was quite normal.

Identity was partly heritage, partly upbringing, but mostly the choices you make in life.”Patricia Briggs.

Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality-in your own mind.

I really am a happy, amusing fellow at heart. Trouble is I seem the only one left.

There are many types of silence. There is a silence before the note, there is a silence at the end and there is a silence in the middle.

A quiet heart is content with what God gives. It is enough. All is grace.

What a pity flowers can utter no sound!-A singing rose, a whispering violet, a murmuring honeysuckle ... oh, what a rare and exquisite miracle would these be!

The peanut is neither a pea nor a nut. Discuss.

I love grand scale. One of the things that everybody mentions is that my novels are beautiful objects in the sense that the elements of the actual book are being extruded and re-contextualized.