Igor Stravinsky

"A symphony is a composite musical form of considerable scope and complexity."

"The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music."

"Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down."

"A musical idea not fixed in notation is like a dream upon waking."

"The greater the artist, the greater the doubt."

"Monsters are made, not born."

"I am not interested in conformity; I am interested in truth."

"One has a nose, and it should be followed."

"Art is the expression of one's deepest thoughts in the most economical form."

"The public does not know what it needs until we tell it."

"Order and reason dictate musical form, not passion alone."

"I do not believe in inspiration falling from the sky like rain."

"Art is a lie that makes us realize truth."

"To compose is to organize, not to invent."

"Success is not a destination; it is a continuous state of growth."

"The worst evil that can befall the artist is success."

"A good composer does not imitate; he steals."

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication in music."

"Without discipline, there is no art."

"The orchestra is a living, breathing entity that must be guided with a firm hand."

"Music criticism is the only field where people feel obligated to have opinions."

"I am a Russian composer, even if I write American music."

"The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself from the chains that shackle the spirit."

"Tradition is the illusion of permanence."

"The function of genius is not to give new answers, but to pose new questions."

"Impulse must be governed by knowledge."

"I cannot understand composers who reject the past entirely."

"The greatest threat to art is indifference."

"One must have the courage to write music that nobody has asked for."

"Art demands perfection in every detail, yet perfection itself is unattainable."