We are involved in a life that passes understanding: our highest business is our daily life.

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.

There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.

Everything you do is music, and everywhere is the best seat.

The act of listening is in fact an act of composing.

The world is no longer a romantic place; some of its people still are however, and therein lies the promise. Don't let the world win.

It is not irritating to be where one is. It is only irritating to think one would like to be somewhere else.

If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.

I have nothing to say, and I am saying it.

Good music can act as a guide to good living.

Look at everything. Don't close your eyes to the world around you. Look and become curious and interested in what there is to see.

Every artist joins a conversation that's been going on for generations, even millennia, before he or she joins the scene.

When life takes me on a new journey, I simply remember the smile my first ballet recital put on my face and I move forward.

I loved competing and winning and also wanted to continue my career for the fans, knowing they were there for me and enjoyed watching me fight.

I never taught people where to step on '2', because when I learned how to dance there was no '2'. We just danced to the music.

I've been writing books without ego for a very long time. I feel like it will get what it deserves. Or won't get what it doesn't deserve.

If coming up with ten ideas sounds too hard, then come up with twenty.

My mother said I was a star when I was about four years old. That's all I need.

This is what happens under capitalism - as long as corporations and the super rich own the economy and the politicians, every new generation has to fight hard just to defend itself.

I'm a really good dinner party guest. I am always so appreciative, impressed that anyone has even managed to turn on the oven and cook for me.

Recipe for a happy marriage: My wife and I always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.