Do not take up music unless you would rather die than not do so.

Without order there can be no inner satisfaction. Without inner satisfaction there can be no freedom. Without freedom there is no joy.

Art is not emotion. Art is the medium in which emotion is expressed.

Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.

It is one thing to be gifted and quite another thing to be worthy of one's own gift.

To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them.

Great art likes chains. The greatest artists have created art within bounds. Or else they have created their own chains.