The spirit can assert itself only through the medium of clear form.

Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

Beauty and fullness of tone can be achieved by having the whole orchestra play with high clarinets and a carefully selected number of piccolos.

You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion.

The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause.

What is best in music is not to be found in the notes.

A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.

But it's peculiar, as soon as I am in the midst of nature and by myself, everything that is base and trivial vanishes without trace. On such days nothing scares me; and this helps me again and again.

I am hitting my head against the walls, but the walls are giving way.

If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster.

I want to hold you close, skin on skin, and let our heartbeats have a conversation.

In difficult situations when hope seems feeble the boldest plans are safest.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace.

So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done.

Our lives pass from us like the wind, and why Should wise men grieve to know that they must die? The Judas blossom fades, the lovely face Of light is dimmed, and darkness takes its place.

I came up with a story and I wrote it.

I have a handful of tattoos that I really want to put on people that I can't find anyone to let me give them to.

My parents were in 'Brigadoon' on Broadway when I was a couple of years old.

Write whatever you like!

Futility is the defining characteristic of life.