One has a nose. The nose scents and it chooses. An artist is simply a kind of pig snouting truffles.

Harpists spend 90 percent of their lives tuning their harps and 10 percent playing out of tune.

The more controlled, limited and tormented art is, the freer it is.

I was born out of due time in the sense that by temperament and talent I should have been more suited for the life of a small Bach, living in anonymity and composing regularly for an established service and for God.

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

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

Nothing is likely about masterpieces, least of all whether there will be any.