To understand Mozart's contradictory qualities would indeed be to understand genius.

It is obvious that anything a scientist discovers or invents is based on previous discoveries and inventions. The same applies to the arts.

Why do we pigeonhole and label an artist? It is a sure way of missing the important, the contradictory, the things that make him or her unique.

Most people think an artist tries to be original, but originality is the last thing that develops in the artist.

It is the element I miss in electronic music - no performance, no loving immersion. Maybe that is why I was never particularly drawn to electronic music.

Great music does not just make me feel good. It means something. It makes us understand. It makes us happy.

Since age seven, I've been composing and have never stopped composing, yet, the creative process is as elusive to me as it has ever been.

I strongly suggest that we play down basics like who influenced whom, and instead study the way the influence is transformed, in other words: how the artist made it his own.

There is another interesting paradox here: by immersing ourselves in what we love, we find ourselves. We do not lose ourselves. One does not lose one's identity by falling in love.

Any creator owes a debt to past creation.

The fact that Stravinsky used the classics as a major influence is obvious. What is interesting is how he used them, how he turned Bach into Stravinsky.

Is this a kissing book?

Words live longer than mortals.

Every day is a fresh start

Some people use things; they destroy. You're a creator, a builder.

All this visible world is but an imperceptible point in the ample bosom of nature.

It kills me to be time's eunuch and never to beget.

I think that I do separate myself a fair amount. And I don't feel like I am representing women. That's up to however people interpret it once they sort of see it.

The haiku lets meaning float; the aphorism pins it down.

Banning refugees from fleeing west Africa is like shuttering up the windows while a house burns down.

Nowadays, Messi is better than Ronaldinho. He is the best footballer in the world right now. And I'm not the only who says so. Everyone who has seen him play says so too.