Your religion is what you do when the sermon is over.
Sometimes I think, not so much am I a pianist, but a vampire. All my life I have lived off the blood of Chopin.
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.
Don't tell me how talented you are. Tell me how hard you work.
The most striking thing Snowden has revealed is the depth of what the NSA and the Five Eyes countries [Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the US] are doing, their hunger for all data, for total bulk dragnet surveillance where they try to collect all communications and do it all sorts of different ways. Their ethos is "collect it all. "
Heaven is not reached at a single bound. But we build the ladder by which we rise. From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to its summit round by round.
I love writing songs.
My blood is no different from that of other martyrs.