Reviewer: 'One of your themes was very similar to one of Beethoven's!' Brahms replied, 'Of course it is. Everyone steals - the important thing is to do it brilliantly.

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.

One should never forget that by actually perfecting one piece one gains and learns more than by starting or half-finishing a dozen.

The idea comes to me from outside of me - and is like a gift. I then take the idea and make it my own - that is where the skill lies.

Study Bach. There you will find everything.

If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon.

It is a real pleasure to see music so bright and spontaneous expressed with corresponding ease and grace.

It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.

If we cannot write with the beauty of Mozart, let us at least try to write with his purity.

The only true immortality lies in one's children.

Straight-away the ideas flow in upon me, directly from God, and not only do I see distinct themes in my mind's eye, but they are clothed in the right forms, harmonies, and orchestration.

In the beginning man was poor, then along came Cosmic Ordering.

Every traveler has their unique observation of the place they have been.

If you’re planning on quitting, first make sure it's not for one of these reasons:FearDiscomfortAngerSelf-pitySomeone’s negative opinionsPast failuresUnrealistic expectations

It was not impulse.It was not lust.It was not wrath, or boredom, or desperation.People remembered the saints because they had their tokens.

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.

We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.

[Every] hour of delay abates the fame and force of the invader, and multiplies the resources of defensive war.

A good scientist is a person in whom the childhood quality of perennial curiosity lingers on. Once he gets an answer, he has other questions.

Silence is the best answer to a fool.

All our pursuits, from childhood to manhood, are only trifles of different sorts and sizes, proportioned to our years and views.