The 20th century has been a badly written drama, from the beginning.

The joy of music should never be interrupted by a commercial.

Music, of all the arts, stands in a special region, unlit by any star but its own, and utterly without meaning ... except its own.

I've been all over the world and I've never seen a statue of a critic.

When I am with composers, I say I am a conductor. When I am with conductors, I say I am a composer.

Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long.

I believe in people. I feel, love, need and respect people above all else, including natural scenery, organized piety and nationalistic superstructures. One human figure on the slope of a mountain can make the mountain disappear for me, one person fighting for truth can disqualify for me the entire system which had dispensed it.