What gives the artist real prestige is his imitators.

It is my conviction that the public always shows itself more honest in its spontaneity than do those who officially set themselves up as judges of works of art.

I know that the twelve notes in each octave and the variety of rhythm offer me opportunities that all of human genius will never exhaust.

What force is more potent than love?

Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right.

We can neither put back the clock nor slow down our forward speed, and as we are already flying pilotless, on instrument controls, it is even too late to ask where we are going.

The profound meaning of music's essential aim... is to produce a communion, a union of man with his fellow man with the Supreme Being