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

Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning.

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'.

Music is...the coordination between man and time.

Mediocrity borrows, genius steals.

Look for the music on all things, and life will be a symphony of joy. My music is best understood by children and animals.

My childhood was a period of waiting for the moment when I could send everyone and everything connected with it to hell.