"If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way."

Words of wisdom from the great composer and pioneer of ethnomusicology: "Competitions are for horses, not artists."

Words of wisdom from Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, the founder of ethnomusicology: "In art there are only fast or slow developments. Essentially it is a matter of evolution, not revolution."

"So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it's gratifying to have something you have done linger in people's memories."

"There’s a very basic human, nonverbal aspect to our need to make music and use it as part of our human expression. It doesn’t have to do with body movements; it doesn't have to do with articulation of a language, but with something spiritual."

"The written word, obviously, is very inward, and when we're reading, we're thinking. It's a sort of spiritual, meditative activity. When we're looking at visual objects, I think our eyes are obviously directed outward, so there's not as much reflective time. And it's the reflectiveness and the spiritual inwardness about reading that appeals to me."  

A quote from author Joyce Carol Oates: "The worst cynicism: a belief in luck." She believes hard work and tenacity are the main ingredients for success. Do you agree?