What I cannot follow are the manic-depressive fluctuations from total control to no control, from the serialization of all elements to chance.

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.

Time is wasted on the young and experience is wasted on the old.

Memories, all those little experiences make up the fabric of our lives and on balance, I wouldn't want to erase any of them, tempting though it may be.

Some love is just a lie of the heart, the cold remains of what began with a passionate heart.

When I listen to the radio, I just hear so much music that doesn't even sound like people. The vocals are all tuned, and the drums are all fake.

Punk music is perfect for me because I'm not, like, a master at any instrument.

My Greek mythology is not strong enough.

To the man on crutches, dressed in camouflage, who stole my wallet ... you can hide but you can't run.

Rickey was never motivated by stats. He was motivated by numbers. Wins, runs, steals.

I think there's great stuff on television. I'm hooked on all these shows. I love watching these shows.

I'm a lost soul. We do wail.