Always ask for advice but never take it.

Music, being identical with heaven, isn't a thing of momentary thrills, or even hourly ones. It's a condition of eternity.

I’ve learned what ‘classical’ means. It means something that sings and dances through sheer joy of existence.

Failure is the most important part of an artist's training, and one you cannot afford to do without.

There is no room in music for the second-rate - it might just as well be the nineteenth-rate.

Always ask for advice but never take it.

Never compose anything unless the not composing of it becomes a positive nuisance to you.