An artist should make concessions to the listener. That is why Bruckner dedicated one of his symphonies to the Good Lord.

A white lie is always pardonable. But he who tells the truth without compulsion merits no leniency.

Culture is the tacit agreement to let the means of subsistence disappear behind the purpose of existence.

I have decided many a stylistic problem first by my head, then by heads or tails.

The triumph of morality: A thief who has broken into a bedroom claims his sense of shame had been outraged, and by threatening theoccupants with exposure of an immoral act he blackmails them into not bringing charges for burglary.

Curses on the law! Most of my fellow citizens are the sorry consequences of uncommitted abortions.

Let my style capture all the sounds of my time. This should make it an annoyance to my contemporaries. But later generations should hold it to their ears like a seashell in which there is the music of an ocean of mud.