I am proud to be able to claim that, from the age of nineteen, I've managed to earna living entirely as a composer.

I was a catastrophe at Science and Games, but the good thing about Quaker schools is that they encourage you in those subjects for which you show an aptitude.

When I came across something I liked, I wanted to find out as much as I could about it. This was as true of hearing Hoagy Carmichael for the first time as it was later when I first heard Boulez.

I realized very early that I was never going to make by living by writing string quartets. But I wanted to write music and I didn't want to have to do anything else.

I hated teaching composition. I was playing music I didn't particularly want to play, being on committees I didn't want to be on.

Being on a musical quest was something I always enjoyed.

I just scribbled away and eventually a C-major chord was there. I didn't ever decide I was going to be a composer. It was like being tall. It's what I was. It's what I did.

People ask what was the first piece of music I wrote. There was no first piece.

I wanted to write music, and cook, and play cards, and have a nice time.

Ow! My brains!

When you know what you're doing, you can do what you want." -Moshe Feldenkrais

Forgiveness is a transformative act because it asks you to be a more empathetic and compassionate person, thereby making you better than the person you were when you were first hurt.

I am a danger to myself if I get angry.

The weeping voices rise straight up and strike the clouds. A passer-by at the roadside asks a conscript why, The conscript answers only that drafting happens often.

Let gratitude for the past inspire us with trust for the future.

Marriage is a desperate thing.

What we call luck is the inner man externalized. We make things happen to us.

I have someone. He's 25. It's nothing serious.

I have frequently stated that I regard chess as an art form, where creativity prevails over other factors.