“I was much more interested in the orchestra than the piano.”

It’s hard for me to think of others because I’m not particularly in sympathy with the music of this century.

Well, my grandfather was a minister and sort of Protestant, and this was rather depressing to me.

My purpose is to create music not for snobs, but for all people, music which is beautiful and healing.

The greater the emotional intensity, the greater the simplicity.

I was born in Somerville, but I don’t remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington when I was five years old, and it was in Arlington that I spent most of my childhood.

I’ve always regarded nature as the clothing of God.

The composer…joins Heaven and Earth with threads of sounds.

She came from an old family, some of whom lived in upper New York State and some of whom had come over from Scotland.

There is nothing like practice.

The planets have the sun, the earth, the moon.

I did all kinds of things in order to earn a living.

My mother’s background was Scottish.

This is not to say that the Scots are not fine people, but they were all sort of.

But I did become fairly proficient as a pianist and my teachers felt I had talent and wanted me to become a good concert pianist and earn my living that way.

I think that of my 21 symphonies, each has its own place.

To attempt what old Chinese painters called ‘spirit resonance’ in melody and sound.

Geometry alone is not enough to portray human desires, expressions, aspirations, joys. We need more.

There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.

It is a unit of the Russian Federation. Its political status is not to be discussed any more.

There is more disgruntlement, but because there is no media, the voice of this opposition is not heard outside Iran.

I’m selling more records on my own than I did on major labels.

Listening is much more effective than trying to stop thought or cut it off.

But I know one thing for sure: That we, the Iranian people, are much more in line of danger than the West.

You must want to know the truth more than you want to feel secure in order to fully awaken to the fact that you are nothing but Awakeness itself.