What came to me as a revelation was the use of rhythm in developing an overall structure in music.

I, as a young guy getting out of music school, I didn't like the prospect of spending my life writing music for about 200 people.

What you hear depends on how you focus your ear. We're not talking about inventing a new language, but rather inventing new perceptions of existing languages.

I don't think I'm capable of making radical changes, but over a period of four or five years you can perceive very big changes, and they seem rather small at the time.

You get up early in the morning and you work all day. That’s the only secret.

I've been called a minimalist composer for more than 30 years, and while I've never really agreed with the description, I've gotten used to it.

I like the idea that [Mahatma] Gandhi is appearing now in an opera hall in all these different places, and people kind of think about it again.