"At Bloomington, Indiana, I was invited to listen to music written in quarter tones for four harps and voices. I had to go out to be sick"

"Music is my religion"

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away"

"I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody"

"I've always been into melodies. That's what I love about music – a good melody that gives you goosebumps"

"I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect"

"We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it"

"I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead. Not sick. Not wounded. Dead"

"Music is the shorthand of emotion"

"It's better to be healthy alone than sick with someone else"

"A nation creates music - the composer only arranges it"