You may feel depressed, but it can't be so depressing that you can't move. No, I would say that people create in moments when they are elated about expressing their depression!

Someone once asked me... whether I waited for inspiration. My answer was: "Every day!"

If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles.

Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t.

You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down some sort of permanent statement about the way it feels to live now, today.

This whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, “Is there a meaning to music?” My answer to that would be, “Yes.” And “Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?” My answer to that would be, “No.”

The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It's useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.