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.

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

We're not trying to change the world; just music.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.

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

Music can change the world because it can change people.

Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

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

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

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

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

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

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

And I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinking.

Let silence be the art you practice.

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

Singers come and go, but if you're a good actor, you can last a long time

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