It is obvious that anything a scientist discovers or invents is based on previous discoveries and inventions. The same applies to the arts.

I strongly suggest that we play down basics like who influenced whom, and instead study the way the influence is transformed, in other words: how the artist made it his own.

The best way to investigate the elusive phenomenon called the creative process may well be to target all the misconceptions, to explain what the creative process is not.

If one uses music that one does not really love, then one will not succeed in making it one's own.

The fact that Stravinsky used the classics as a major influence is obvious. What is interesting is how he used them, how he turned Bach into Stravinsky.

In the nineteenth century the more grandiose word inspiration began to replace the word idea in the arts.

I still do not know where the notes will come from when I accept a commission for a new work.