I shall never be converted, and I shall remain true to my old religion of the classics until my life's end.

The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but the most difficult to play.

Ideas, like young wine, should be put in storage and taken up again only after they have been allowed to ferment and to ripen.

Its a funny thing Alice, dying is just the way I composed it in Tod und Verklärung.

I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer.

On conducting: If you can just barely hear the French horns on stage, the balance is perfect.

Never look at the trombones, you'll just encourage them.