Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.

To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.

So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.

The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.

Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never meant to be soporific.

Listening to the Fifth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams is like staring at a cow for 45 minutes.

The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It's useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.

If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles.

Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t.

A melody is not merely something you can hum.

Someone once asked me... whether I waited for inspiration. My answer was: "Every day!"

Nashville has always been competitive. My granddaddy called it the Hillbilly Babylon.

Every interaction presents an opportunity for growth, one of the keys to our limitless potential.

Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian

I craft most of my own tragedies without ever having even the remotest understanding that it is I myself who have done the crafting.

There's no greater way to gain an audience's sympathy than by being unfortunate.

It's not easy waking up every single morning knowing what you're going to put your body through and having to do it. We don't have days off.

I'm really not a fascist. Everyone wears what they feel great in, or comfortable with. It's a beautiful day, you have an armless shirt: it goes with flip-flops.

Concept is what makes actors raise their game.

Love can give a person strength to break through glamours and magicks.

What has gone wrong with the men who are ruling I'd like to know who they think they are fooling They told us that torture was over and gone but everyone knows the same torture goes on