I certainly had no feeling for harmony, and Schoenberg thought that that would make it impossible for me to write music. He said, 'You'll come to a wall you won't be able to get through.' So I said, 'I'll beat my head against that wall.'

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

There's no such thing as silence. Something is always happening that makes a sound.

If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.

Guy Nearing told us it's a good idea when hunting mushrooms to have a pleasant goal, a waterfall for instance, and, having reached it, to return another way. When, however, we're obliged to go and come back by the same path, returning we notice mushrooms we hadn't noticed going out.

Why do you not do as I do? Letting go of your thoughts as though they were the cold ashes of a long dead fire?

People who aren't artists often feel that artists are inspired. But if you work at your art you don't have time to be inspired.