You don't really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition.

Must we be put to shame by much smaller and poorer countries, by Ireland, France, Austria or Sweden, who have understood that a nation's support of its arts is a matter of both national pride and cultural survival?

Throughout my life I have cared as deeply about the songs of all peoples as I have about the rights of all peoples.

We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task.

If I have one vanity wish, it would be to direct. It's the only thing I haven't done yet that I would like to.

Having come to live in this age is as though one were to have entered another country. Learn its language or risk being left out.

I do prefer the stage. It's really the granddaddy of them all.