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.

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

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.

It takes great courage and determination, to keep looking for light in all the darkness of life.

A full beard looks cool.

In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant. One motto on the show is, 'Keep your facts, I'm going with the truth.'

Don't misinform your Doctor nor your Lawyer.

I don't do drugs anymore... than, say, the average touring funk band.

Alexander Gustafsson was never my friend

Hierarchical institutions are like giant bulldozers -- obedient to the whim of any fool who takes the controls.

A millstone and the human heart are driven ever round, If they have nothing else to grind, they must themselves be ground.

My baby lives in shades of blue, blue eyes and jazz and attitude.

Washington, DC does not have to live with much of what they produce legislatively for us.