Composers are the only people who can hear good music above bad sounds.

Any composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself.

The office of President is a great one; to every true American it seems the greatest on earth. And to me, as I was engaged in weaving a background of music for the pageantry of it, there came a deeper realization of the effect of that office on the man.

I can almost always write music; at any hour of the twenty-four, if I put pencil to paper, music comes.

I had found English audiences highly satisfactory. They are the best listeners in the world. Perhaps the music-lovers of some of our larger cities equal the English, but I do not believe they can be surpassed in that respect.

Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.

America can well expect to develop a goodly amount of composers for she has a goodly number of people.