The beautiful are shyer than the ugly, for they move in a world that does not ask for beauty.

In music the present is extended.

Greatness is not the effect of which inspiration is the cause. We are all inspired, but we are all not great.

There are no fascinating people, only their works are fascinating.

Art's the biggest vanity: the assumption that one's view of peace or fright or beauty is permanently communicable.

To see itself through, music must have idea or magic. ... Music with neither dies young though rich.

Compose first, worry later.