Wine snobbery, of course, is part showmanship, part sophistication, part knowledge, and part bluff

A liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night, and a bright, infinite future.

This must be the mission of every man of goodwill: to insist, unflaggingly, at risk of becoming a repetitive bore, but to insist on the achievement of a world in which the mind will have triumphed over violence.

Any asshole can write a tone-row. It takes a composer to write a tune.

Which of my Jewish roots do I follow?

Mozart combines serenity, melancholy, and tragic intensity into one great lyric improvisation. Over it all hovers the greater spirit that is Mozart's - the spirit of compassion, of universal love, even of suffering - a spirit that knows no age, that belongs to all ages.

Wine snobbery, of course, is part showmanship, part sophistication, part knowledge, and part bluff