"I was not a 'revolutionary' in the sense of a man with a message. The only thing I was aware of was that I was doing my work, and that it was a question of going forward."

"For I consider that music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, a psychological mood, a phenomenon of nature, etc. Expressio…"

"I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse."

"I know that the public will not understand my music. But I don't care. I write for myself."

"My music is best understood by children and animals."