When I have reached a summit, I leave it with great reluctance, unless it is to reach for another, higher one.

Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

Beauty and fullness of tone can be achieved by having the whole orchestra play with high clarinets and a carefully selected number of piccolos.

You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion.

The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause.

What is best in music is not to be found in the notes.

A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.

But it's peculiar, as soon as I am in the midst of nature and by myself, everything that is base and trivial vanishes without trace. On such days nothing scares me; and this helps me again and again.

I am hitting my head against the walls, but the walls are giving way.

If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster.

With…love of wind, there is no surer test of genuine Nature instinct that this. Any body can love sunshine.

Each memory recalled must do some violence to its origins.

For some time its been my habit to use images when preparing a speech: rather than write it down, I illustrate it.

I thought of myself as a writer for years before I got around to writing anything.

Why is no one talking about all the potential savings from a complete economic collapse?

Justice is the bread of the nation; it is always hungry for it.

True love gallops, it flies, it is the swiftest of all modes of thought, swifter even than hate and fear.

Dear optimist, pessimist, and realist--while you guys were busy arguing about the glass of wine, I drank it! Sincerely, the opportunist!

Texas liberals are the camels of good news. We can cross entire deserts between oases.

Our abilities and giftedness does not end of this earth; we will continue to serve the Lord in agreement with our abilities on this earth.