If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

It's hard to decide how to match words to music. It's not like it's twice the work. It's always difficult for me to explain to the composer what I'm looking for. I'm not a professional I lack even basic knowledge about writing music.

Music is at once the product of feeling and knowledge for it requires from its disciples composers and performers alike not only talent and enthusiasm but also that knowledge and perception which are the result of protracted study and reflection.

My musical knowledge is so bad it's embarrassing. When composers discuss music with someone as primitive as myself they have to talk about it in terms of senses and emotion rather than keys and tempo.

I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.

The opportunities of man are limited only by his imagination. But so few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer.

Asking the author of historical novels to teach you about history is like expecting the composer of a melody to provide answers about radio transmission.

You'll know if you're a famous composer if 20 years from now your name appears on a pull-down menu in Band in a Box alongside Hans Zimmer.

We are increasingly likely to find ourselves in places with background music. No composers have thought to write for these modern spaces which represent 30% of our musical experience.

I began my career with infantile dreams of becoming a composer.