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 trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music they should be taught to love it instead.

The true creator may be recognized by his ability always to find about him, in the commonest and humblest thing, items worthy of note.

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

What I cannot follow are the manic-depressive fluctuations from total control to no control, from the serialization of all elements to chance.

Invention presupposes imagination but should not be confused with it.

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.