It's the irrational things that interest me.

I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting did with cubism.

I didn't have a record player.

I don't have ideas so much as there are things which constantly evolve... there are various threads or layers, if you like, which change.

When I was confronted with official tuition, the academic thing, I could see no relationship whatever between that and the music I'd been writing since I was 11.

The opera tells the story with all the built-in contradictions and from many different angles.

The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: 'What are we going to do in five years' time?' A completely different attitude.

Music is such a problem in the time it takes.

People say my music is English. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's not me writing English music, but that English music is becoming more like me.

Minimalism now is a reaction to what came before. It's absolutely of its time. Music moved into the set theory thing, and moved out of it.

The thing about influence is that any composer worth anything will give you the same names.

The only thing that stops you from success is fear of the unknown

With every new day come the Lord’s great love, grace and mercies.

Heartbreak, death and loss were shared between us, but renewal, commitment and strength as well.

The deeper the grief, the more radiant the love.

Sometimes words are not needed, and the simplicity of expressing yourself through an art form is one of the best ways of communication.

Those of us with illnesses are the holders of the silent fears of those with good health.

If I had my way everyone would have a psychiatrist. When the brain is sick and you must throw up, you do it by being purged in a psychiatrist's office.

I am always a beginner. I only try to include different parts of life; the pastoral, the tragic, et cetera.

What the world needs are servants, not leaders. Everyone's wish is to become a leader....Let us become a real servant instead.

When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.