I take no pride in my artistic talents; they are God-given and I see absolutely no reason to become puffed up over something that one has received.

I cannot now evaluate the events that, at the end of those thirty years, made me discover the necessity of religious belief. I was not reasoned into my disposition. Though I admire the structured thought of theology, it is to religion no more than counterpoint exercises are to music.

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What could I say? I felt like de Kooning, who was asked to comment on a certain abstract painting, and answered in the negative. He was then told it was the work of a celebrated monkey. 'That's different. For a monkey, it's terrific'.

I never understood the need for a "live" audience. My music, because of its extreme quietude, would be happiest with a dead one.

I never am sea sick, never. I am sea drunk!

Vivaldi didn't write 400 concertos; he wrote one concerto 400 times.

Music's exclusive function is to structure the flow of time and keep order in it.