Compose with utter freedom and edit with utter discipline.

“I have to admit it humbly, mon cher compatriote, I was always bursting with vanity. I, I, I is the refrain of my whole…

— Albert Camus

“But before you forget, while you sit stagnant in your little corner of the board, there is one piece that obeys almost no rules…

— Jacquelyn Frank

Idealism is the death of the body and the imagination. All but freedom, utter freedom, is death

— Anais Nin

The only rule I have when writing is to try to tell the truth. That doesn't mean you can't exaggerate, edit, rewrite things to…

— Erica Jong

Works of art inspire me to compose.

— Krzysztof Penderecki

I've been a full-time composer for many years, and I'm still learning all the time. There is always more than one musical "solution" to…

— John Keltonic

If I pick up a fiddle, I don't compose on it, so much as I just play whatever.

— Sam Amidon

To compose is to remember music that has never been written.

— Robert Schumann

I got to compose for a full symphony orchestra.

— Jack Conte

I know a famous violinist who told me he can't compose because he knows too many pieces. So, when he starts thinking of a…

— Natalie Portman

One of the challenges is creating characters. I am trying to compose my sentences to express epic events happening to ordinary people.

— Andrea Hirata

Even in front of nature one must compose.

— Edgar Degas

I don't meditate before I play or compose, but I see playing and composing as meditative acts.

— Steve Swallow

Every song that I compose has to satisfy the music director in me.

— Gopi Sundar

I follow a simple formula when I compose. I ask myself, 'What would the audience want to hear?' and 'Why would they buy my…

— A. R. Rahman