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

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.

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.

Unquestionably, our contemporary world of music is far richer, in a sense, than earlier periods, due to the historical and geographical extensions of culture to which I have referred.

I find some things difficult to grasp. I need to be shown or taught a few different ways sometimes before I figure it out

It is only by being bold that you get anywhere. If you are a risk-taker, then the art is to protect the downside.

I publish my own books, so there isn't a certain editor I owe the book to at a publishing house.

The class which has the power to rob upon a large scale has also the power to control the government and legalize their robbery.

The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar; now that's my idea of a good time.

if a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small.

I want to rob a bank so much - and I'm from the Midwest, so we have like one bank, no security cameras, and so I designed this thing.

If parents had children who were good sleepers, they assumed this was due to their good parenting, not good luck.

I never see these things coming. They happen too fast. One second you're proposing an escape plan and the next...

Whilst large organisations need foresight, they are also notorious in their bias for short term thinking, sometimes rejecting or even suppressing foresight.