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.

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

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.

I don't dare postulate about science, but I know that it takes both emotion and intellect in order for art to happen.

One who is lost cannot show others the way.

Life is never that clean, " he assures her. "Neither is magic.

Sometimes the truth will hurt and a lie will set you free

I think patriotism is never racism.

You just can't let the outside world affect your game.You can't hold anything back. You can't play a different game.

A beautiful god is the most noble product of Man.

My God...it can think.

I'm ready to accept the challenge. I'm coming home.

Listening is harvesting what is in the speaker's mind.

[Vice chairman of Barbour] Helen [Barbour] and I realized that I come from the same village that her ancestor John Barbour came from, who created Barbour. It just seemed like such a great connection.