I think that of my 21 symphonies, each has its own place.

I was much more interested in the orchestra than the piano, but I did become fairly proficient as a pianist and my teachers felt I had talent and wanted me to become a good concert pianist and earn my living that way.

I think that of my 21 symphonies, each has its own place.

This is not to say that the Scots are not fine people, but they were all sort of... well, my grandfather was a minister and sort of Protestant, and this was rather depressing to me.

I did all kinds of things in order to earn a living.

There were periods when I sometimes made fires in a large, open fireplace that lasted about two weeks, which was how long it took to burn my compositions. So there has been an awful lot that I have destroyed.

My mother's background was Scottish. She came from an old family, some of whom lived in upper New York State and some of whom had come over from Scotland.

It's hard for me to think of others because I'm not particularly in sympathy with the music of this century.

No, no, I didn't know him. He lost his mind around 1917 because of the tragedy of the Armenians.

I found a greater identity with my own emotions in the Armenian culture as I grew older, as well as from the beginning, although I didn't know anything about it.

There is nothing like practice.

I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington when I was five years old, and it was in Arlington that I spent most of my childhood.

I've always regarded nature as the clothing of God.

I was in the tent when Bobbi Kristina's body was lowered into the ground. Watching her grandmother and her aunt, watching these women not cry but wail - you can't divorce your feelings from some of this stuff.

I knew at an early age I wanted to act. Acting was always easy for me. I don't believe in predestination, but I do believe that once you get where ever it is you are going, that is where you were going to be.

Congratulations you have a sense of humor. And to those who didnt Go stick your head in the mud.

There are maybe 100 actors I look up to, but my first two favourite actors were Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson.

As a kid, I liked making up stories, and I wrote a story about a kangaroo and a bat with Christy Chang, and she went on to become a surgeon.

The lesson of history is that you do not get a sustained economic recovery as long as the financial system is in crisis.

I'm quite modest. I don't want to tell people I'm a leader.

Well, first of all, I'm an incredibly gullible person - I'm so bad that when I said that to someone, my friend said, 'You know, 'gullible' isn't even in the dictionary.' And I said, 'Really?' As I was saying 'Really?' I will acknowledge that I then realized what was happening, but that's how bad I am.

I ate a whole 20-inch pizza by myself one time.

Don't worry, America. We survived Jimmy Carter, and we will survive Barack Obama. Only one questions remains... who is the next Ronald Reagan?

As someone who cares about human rights, I am deeply dismayed to learn that Mr. McCain's charity has accepted money from Saudi Arabia. Their track record of oppressing women, gays, Christians, and political opponents is notoriously horrific.

I hope that people look at my whole career and appreciate that I've given everything that I've got.

We say that anytime budgets are balanced and an ample savings account has been set aside, government should just stop collecting taxes. Better to leave that money in the pockets of those who earned it, than to let it burn a hole, as it always does, in the pockets of government.

As a stunt guy, you become a mini-director. You're talking to actors about performance.

The issue is the Republican Party has been paying too much attention to Wall Street and not enough attention to Main Street.

In Quebec, we're less inhibited artistically, culturally, politically. We're less focused on box office and comparing our films to the American films.

I do have a sense, and I've never not had it, of how easily things can vanish.

All men will commence in their present rank and promotion will be open to all men alike, without any distinctions or qualifications, political or otherwise.

There are some writers I think who love to go around and visit bookstores and just interact.

If you have to eat crow eat it while its young and tender.

I hated the fact that I had to read 'Moby-Dick' as a senior in high school.

I now resolved to go to bed early, with a firm purpose of also rising early the next day to revisit this charming walk; for I thought to myself, I have now seen this temple of the modern world imperfectly; I have seen it only by moonlight.

Carl Icahn told me to stay away from airlines. In good times, the unions take away the profits, and in bad times, the cost of oil kills you.

From the age of 13, I was attracted to physics and mathematics. My interest in these subjects derived mostly from popular science books that I read avidly.