Art in relation to life is nothing more than a glove turned inside out. It seems to have the same shapes and contours, but it can never be used for the same purpose. Art teaches nothing about life, just as life teaches us nothing about art.

What was great about the 50s is that for one brief moment - maybe, say, six weeks - nobody understood art.

At one point [Cardew] taught himself to play guitar simply in order to take part in the performance in a composition by Boulez, which is a little like saying he learned Danish to read Kiekegaard.

After all, Jews invented psychiatry to help other Jews become Gentiles.

Compositionally I always wanted to be like Fred Astaire.

Music is essentially built upon primitive memory structures.

The composer makes plans, music laughs.