I don't choose what I compose. It chooses me.

A true personality . . . is like a robust organism that, with unconscious sureness, seeks out and digests the nourishment appropriate to it and vigorously rejects that which is unsuitable.

An operetta is simply a small and gay opera.

It is strange how one feels drawn forward without knowing at first where one is going.

The impressions of the spriritual experiences gave my future life its form and content.

Melodic invention is one of the surest signs of a divine gift.

It is a funny thing, but when I am making music, all the answers I seek for in life seem to be there, in the music. Or rather, I should say, when I am making music, there are no questions and no need for answers.