The question I ask myself like almost every day is, 'Am I doing the most important thing I could be doing?'

I want the work to ask questions, not provide answers.

There's a real correlation between a society that tells people that they can do anything, and the existence of low self-esteem. So that's another way in which something quite positive can have a nasty kickback. There is another reason why we might be feeling more anxious --about our careers, about our status in the world today, than ever before. And it's, again, linked to something nice. And that nice thing is called meritocracy.

Who can afford to do professional work for nothing?

A composer's biography is written in his scores, not in his letters or diaries.