"Never compose anything unless the not composing of it becomes a positive nuisance to you."
"My idea of composition is to spoil as much MS paper as possible. But my pupils here would far rather write a thesis on Schoenberg's use of the bass clarinet compared with von Webern's: or, better still, talk vaguely about the best method of introducing the second subject in the recapitulation. And some of these boys have really studied hard - if not music, anyhow books on music. Is this University or America?"
"There is no room in music for the second-rate...it might as well be the nineteenth-rate."
"Music-making as a means of getting money is hell."
"Music should either be done in a church or someone's home."
