Sins cannot be undone, only forgiven.

I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.

I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it.

One has a nose. The nose scents and it chooses. An artist is simply a kind of pig snouting truffles.

My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Stra-whiskey.

Art is the opposite of chaos. Art is organized chaos.

Why is it that whenever I hear a piece of music I don't like, it's always by Villa Lobos?

Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody's piano playing in my living room has on the book I am reading.

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love?

I take no pride in my artistic talents; they are God-given and I see absolutely no reason to become puffed up over something that one has received.

You have to be firm, persistent, passionate, and driven by the idea and have a strong desire to bring your product to the market

All work and no play will make you sad and grey!

Usually You Pick The Winning Numbers When You’re Not Willing To Play.

The anti-gun-violence movement was essentially asleep from 1994 to 2012, and during that time, the gun lobby built up enormous political power.

In a friend one should have ones best enemy. You should be closest to him with your heart when you resist him.

The short story form allows evocation, suggestion, implication. Its potency often lies in what it does not say.

The story of what has happened to women in Afghanistan, however, is a very important one, and fertile ground for fiction.

Internet's been down most of the day [at work]. Doing research by just asking everyone what we remember to be true. What could possibly go wrong?

No matter how much talent you have in your mind and spirit, if your body is not able to function, you are not able to fulfill your destiny.

I’ve always been a person who’s been true to myself and true to others and I’m not afraid to be honest.