People come to music to seek oblivion: is that not also a form of deception?

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.

I am more and more convinced that music is not, in essence, a thing which can be cast into a traditional and fixed form. It is made up of colors and rhythms.

There is no theory. You merely have to listen. Pleasure is the law.

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!

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