Poets and heroes are of the same race, the latter do what the former conceive.

Each song is a child I nourish and give my love to. But even if you have never written a song, your life is a song. How can it not be?

The spoken form is in fact a very restrained representation of what is possible in the musical language.

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.

Art is permitted to survive only if it renounces the right to be different, and integrates itself into the omnipotent realm of the profane.

Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.

People ask me how I make music. I tell them I just step into it. It's like stepping into a river and joining the flow. Every moment in the river has its song.

Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance.

One thing that really appeals to me is this idea of music being a living thing that has an evolution that, in a way, enables the artist to sell a process rather than a piece of product.

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.

Play it fuckin' loud!

Critics are the men who have failed in literature and art.

Every actor in his heart believes everything bad that's printed about him.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.

I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland.

Music with dinner is an insult, both to the cook and the violinist.

I'm very happy to hear that my work inspires writers and painters. It's the most beautiful compliment, the greatest reward. Art should always be an exchange.

Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends.

The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.