Anyone who calls my music "impressionist" is an imbecile.

Music is the expression of the movement of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes.

The trouble with the opera is there's always to much singing.

Listen to no one's advice except that of the wind in the trees. That can recount the whole history of mankind.

The century of aeroplanes deserves its own music. As there are no precedents, I must create anew.

Composers aren't daring enough. They're afraid of that sacred idol called 'common sense', which is the most dreadful thing I know - after all, it's no more than a religion founded to excuse the ubiquity of imbeciles!

On those who overanalyze his music: When you tear the wings off a butterfly, it is no longer a butterfly