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

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

When you were young, and your heart, was an open book. You used to say, live and let live.

It's so sweet, I feel like my teeth are rotting when I listen to the radio.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.

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?

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.

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

The earth has music for those who listen.

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

Music can change the world because it can change people.

I passionately hate the idea of being with it, I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.

Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together.

Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth.

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.

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

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

Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo.

Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, but when you have it, you have it all over.

Artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs.