If one were asked to name one musician who came closest to composing without human flaw, I suppose general consensus would choose Johann Sebastian Bach.

To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.

So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.

The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.

Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never meant to be soporific.

Listening to the Fifth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams is like staring at a cow for 45 minutes.

The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It's useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.

If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles.

Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.

Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t.

A melody is not merely something you can hum.

Adversity, if for no other reason, is of benefit, since it is sure to bring a season of sober reflection. People see clearer at such times. Storms purify the atmosphere.

I also hold very strong personal convictions about censorship. I don't believe in forbidden knowledge.

As we get older, it matters less where you are and more who you're with.

Fiction is as easy as telling a convincing lie. The more believable the better the story.

Absence of conflict creating intents is itself Moksh (Ultimate Liberation).

I have not stopped water when it should run. I have not made a cutting in a canal of running water.

Whenever I am sent a new book on the lively arts, the first thing I do is look for myself in the index.

I always believed that if you set out to be successful, then you already were.

I didn't speak English until I came to Pittsburgh.

An old pop music producer once said that there are really only four kinds of song a person can write: "I love you/I hate you/go away/come back!" That's a funny observation.