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

A band is only as good as its euphonium section.

I firmly believe that we have more latent musical talent in America than there is in any other country. But to dig it out there must be good music throughout the land, a lot of it. Everyone must hear it, and such a process takes time.

Sincere composers believe in God.

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.

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

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