Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Everything should be at once surprising and inevitable.
The tragedy of music is that it begins with perfection.
I don't know whether I like it, but it is what I meant.
It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision does.
Art does not begin with imitation, but with discipline.
Thou shalt prove That beauty is no beauty without love.
Any Beatles song is perfect. It gets to you right away.
No regrets. There is no time for that. Regret is boring.
Beautiful film music can be made relevant to any period.
I prefer to write music for family films. I like people.
My wife says I can't remember if she has milk in coffee.
Music is natural law as related to the sense of hearing.
If I am not making music, I have no reason for existing.
Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.
The modern composer builds upon the foundation of truth.
My sole inspiration is a telephone call from a director.
There's a richness in older music that's been forgotten.
I like composing music, but I love being with my family.
Together with the puzzle, Mozart gives you the solution.
When I'm in my normal mood, music drips from my fingers.
Life is a lot like jazz... it's best when you improvise.
Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour.
New York is the dream world, the center of jazz and rock
For the past ten years I have had no financial problems.
In Hollywood, the rainbow hits the ground for composers.
The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one
Everybody ought to have a lower East Side in their life.
The ukulele has always appealed to the older generation.
You can make money or you can make excuses. Your choice.
No one can have an idea once he starts really listening.
You cannot run a successful retail business from memory.
People sometimes have a very hard time accepting change.
Truth is never negative. Only one's perception of it is.
Everything changes permantly. How boring if it wouldn't.
If listeners aren't carried away to Heaven, I'm failing.
I'm just like my country. I'm young, scrappy and hungry.
Mistakes - mistakes - you yourself are a unique mistake!
Only the flint of a man's mind can strike fire in music.
Characters are an extreme form in Shakespeare's theater.
Perfection is no more a requisite to art than to heroes.
Madam, you ask me how I compose. I compose sitting down.
Being on a musical quest was something I always enjoyed.
Never look at the trombones, you'll just encourage them.
My official cruise ship band name is now A Band On Ship.
The human spirit will not invest itself in a compromise.
Without enthusiasm nothing great can be effected in art.
Life is short, and, once somebody is gone, they're gone.
I'm celebrating my 40th year in show business this year.
Space is not only high, it's low. It's a bottomless pit.
If only the whole world could feel the power of harmony.