“Life gives us the music but we can raise or lower the volume as we like ”

“The thing that binds us together is that we have both lowered our expectations of life”

“We were raised to believe in books, music, and nature.”

“We play the hands of cards life gives us. And the worst hands can make us the best players.”

“The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living.”

“Why is music capable of inflicting such pain? Because it works on our feelings directly. No ideas interfere with its emotions. This is why "all art aspires to the condition of music." The symphony gives us the thrill of uncertainty--the pleasurable anxiety of searching for a pattern--but without the risks of real life. When we listen to music, we are moved by an abstraction. We feel, but we don't know why.”