How could I, blest with thee, long nights employ; And how with the longest day enjoy!
Don't tell me how talented you are. Tell me how hard you work.
I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.
Never sound pompous. You always sound noble, noble. Absolute character of music is nobility. Even popular music can be noble, you see. If it's not noble, then it's not very good. . . Music is an art of emotion, of nobility, of dignity, of greatness, of love, of tenderness. All that must be brought out in music but never a show of pompousness.
Of course there is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life, and what it brings
Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.
I was born very, very lazy and I don't always practice very long. but I must say, in my defense, that it is not so good, in a musical way, to overpractice. When you do, the music seems to come out of your pocket. If you play with a feeling of 'Oh, I know this,' you play without that little drop of fresh blood that is necessary – and the audience feels it.
We've never done a coordinated music effort. Everything else we've done has been around a holiday - Halloween, Mardi Gras, half way to Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day.
You can only write, 'Somebody wants something, something else is in their way of getting it. '
Good things come to those who have patience and take consistent, persistent actions toward what they want.
Gay people, certainly gay people of my generation, at least of a certain echelon - middle-class Americans - have binocular vision. We all are raised by straight people and grow up with straight people and in straight families, but we all have this totally other way of looking at things. Increasingly as I get deeper into middle age, that is why I resist plunking for any one camp. Because I have this delicious sort of experience of being able to see things in two ways.