The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation.

All I know about method is that when I am not working I sometimes think I know something, but when I am working, it is quite clear I know nothing.

Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?

One day when I was studying with Schoenberg, he pointed out the eraser on his pencil and said, 'This end is more important than the other.' After twenty years I learned to write directly in ink.

The purpose of music is to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences.

Composing for the prepared piano is not a criticism of the instrument. I'm only being practical.

Everything I see is something I haven't memorized.