The true creator may be recognized by his ability always to find about him, in the commonest and humblest thing, items worthy of note.

I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.

I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it.

One has a nose. The nose scents and it chooses. An artist is simply a kind of pig snouting truffles.

My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Stra-whiskey.

Art is the opposite of chaos. Art is organized chaos.

Why is it that whenever I hear a piece of music I don't like, it's always by Villa Lobos?

Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody's piano playing in my living room has on the book I am reading.

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love?

I take no pride in my artistic talents; they are God-given and I see absolutely no reason to become puffed up over something that one has received.

Only the truth shall free us.

He who doesn't fear his own imagination...is not worthy to envision.

Men always seemed to growl and sniff around each other, bristling over nothing, and just as suddenly become buddies at the least likely moments.

Do not go by my humble beginnings. Be wary of my enormous vision.

The best way to prove that a stick is crooked is to set a straight one beside it. No words need to be spoken.

We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.

I used to think JESUS motivated us with ultimatums, but now I know He pursues us in LOVE.

A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny.

True joy comes only from God and He shares this joy with those who walk in fellowship with Him.

Oklahoma Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain.