I don't choose what I compose. It chooses me.

Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

Beauty and fullness of tone can be achieved by having the whole orchestra play with high clarinets and a carefully selected number of piccolos.

You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion.

The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause.

What is best in music is not to be found in the notes.

A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.

But it's peculiar, as soon as I am in the midst of nature and by myself, everything that is base and trivial vanishes without trace. On such days nothing scares me; and this helps me again and again.

I am hitting my head against the walls, but the walls are giving way.

If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster.

All our media are given over to things that are better left unsaid.

Listening is the key. The whole objective of a howl is to be heard.

Death is a gift. Without it we wouldn't value life.

Liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others

Different people can photograph the same things with the same tools and create such different images.

A cookbook is only as good as its poorest recipe.

Luck affects everything; let your hook always be cast.

Ride it when you retire.

Practical storage pieces are great if you have a basement or a garage. But when you actually live with them day in and day out, they should be beautiful to look at.

They say I have no emotions, but I'm excited even if you can't see it.