Good writers are monotonous, like good composers. They keep trying to perfect the one problem they were born to understand. Alberto Moravia
Not many composers have ideas. Far more of them know how to use strange instruments which do not require ideas. George Gershwin
I occasionally play works by contemporary composers and for two reasons. First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven. Jascha Heifetz
I was not influenced by composers as much as by natural objects and physical phenomena. Edgard Varèse
Composers aren't daring enough. They're afraid of that sacred idol called 'common sense', which is the most dreadful thing I know - after all, it's no more than a religion founded to excuse the ubiquity of imbeciles! Claude Debussy
Whereas most other modern composers are engaged in manufacturing cocktails of every hue and description, I offer the public cold spring water. Jean Sibelius