I still do not know where the notes will come from when I accept a commission for a new work.

It is obvious that anything a scientist discovers or invents is based on previous discoveries and inventions. The same applies to the arts.

Why do we pigeonhole and label an artist? It is a sure way of missing the important, the contradictory, the things that make him or her unique.

Most people think an artist tries to be original, but originality is the last thing that develops in the artist.

It is the element I miss in electronic music - no performance, no loving immersion. Maybe that is why I was never particularly drawn to electronic music.

Great music does not just make me feel good. It means something. It makes us understand. It makes us happy.

Since age seven, I've been composing and have never stopped composing, yet, the creative process is as elusive to me as it has ever been.

I strongly suggest that we play down basics like who influenced whom, and instead study the way the influence is transformed, in other words: how the artist made it his own.

There is another interesting paradox here: by immersing ourselves in what we love, we find ourselves. We do not lose ourselves. One does not lose one's identity by falling in love.

Any creator owes a debt to past creation.

The fact that Stravinsky used the classics as a major influence is obvious. What is interesting is how he used them, how he turned Bach into Stravinsky.

Morality cannot replace goodness.Knowledge cannot replace wisdom.Fame cannot replace honor.Pleasure cannot replace contentment.Passion cannot replace love.

Are you in great physical pain, or is that your thinking expression?

A deceitful tongue will always be good at twisting the truth.

Marriage is a difficult project. When seven years have passed and all your body's cells have been replaced, you're meant to experience that seven-year itch.

Positive work environments outperform negative work environments.

There is space in the supermarket shelf for all of us.

I was supposed to be waiting up here when you got back, only your Phoenix lot got in the way...” “Yes, they do that,” said Dumbledore.

I thought that because I wasn't a sickly person - I never have been - I thought I was healthy. So I assumed health. I didn't have it.

My varnashram dharma teaches me that there must be some significance in the fact of my being born in India instead of in Europe.

You need to have a beginner's mind to create bold innovation.