I also had a brother who was like me a musician and a composer. A man of great talent, far more gifted than I. He died very young... he killed himself in the prime of his life.

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

In Bach, the vital cells of music are united as the world is in God.

All that is not perfect down to the smallest detail is doomed to perish.

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

To judge a composer's work, one must consider it as a whole.

For the last month I have been a strict vegetarian. The moral effects of this regime are immense, owing to the voluntary subjugation of the flesh and the resulting absence of desires. You will appreciate how full I am of this idea when I tell you that I expect it to work the regeneration of mankind. I advise you to change over to a natural way of life, with proper nourishment (wholemeal bread), and you will soon feel the benefit.