Aaron Copland

There is something about music that keeps its distance even at the moment that it engulfs us. It is at the same time outside and away from us and inside and part of us. In one sense it dwarfs us, and in another we master it. We are led on and on, and yet in some strange way we never lose control.

Every symphony, for example, is a sonata for orchestra; every string quartet is a sonata for four strings; every concerto a sonata for a solo instrument and orchestra.

Is there a meaning to music? Yes. Can you state in so many words what the meaning is? No.

You may feel depressed, but it can’t be so depressing that you can’t move. No, I would say that people create in moments when they are elated about expressing their depression!

But I have always suspected that one could substitute the Minuet of Haydn’s 98th symphony for the Minuet in Haydn’s 99th symphony without sensing a serious lack of coherence in either work.

Mozart in his music was probably the most reasonable of the world’s great composers. It is the happy balance between flight and control, between sensibility and self-discipline, simplicity and sophistication of style that is his particular province… Mozart tapped once again the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breath-taking rightness that has never since been duplicated.

I could be walking down the street one minute and get a handshake and then get spat on the next. I’m never sure whether to wear gloves or a helmet.

I see two or three cars that are really good, but they’re not dominant. There’s usually somebody who’s got one that’s a little bit better than everybody.

[on Brad Pitt] I don’t know… I guess…. he’s a nice person and a GOOD kisser!

I don’t like a tremendous amount of conflict. I don’t think that fighting and passion are the same thing.

I believe I was definitely sent down here to take people away for a little while, to make them happy.

Payday loans are like the Lay’s Potato Chips of finance. You can’t have just one and they’re terrible for you.

I really like comedy that brings people together. There’s a lot of comedies lately that have been at people’s expense or been kind of acidic or mean-spirited. And some folks like that, and I think there’s room for that, but that’s not my style. I like something that makes us all feel closer. Comedy, at its best, can be healing.

I dreamed of being an actress when I was a little kid because you don’t know then that the writer writes everything the actor is saying. But as I got older, I got into college and became more aware that writing is another option, and I started getting into it, too.

There’s nothing worse than a bunch of jaded old farts, and that’s a fact.

I get more people approaching me about how good I was in ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ than being in Coldplay.

I’d love to do a musical, either in film or on stage.

[on Kylie Jenner’s cover shoot] I need a half hour to cry

I never thought that I would have a career in show business…

I don’t have a recollection of mostly anybody I’ve hung out with.

I’ve never been cool and I don’t really care about being cool. It’s just an awful lot of time and hair gel wasted.