“That was one of the big problems when I was at Harvard studying music....” — Elliott Carter Quote

“That was one of the big problems when I was at Harvard studying music. We had to write choral pieces in the style of Brahms or Mendelssohn, which was distressing because in the end you realized how good Brahms is, and how bad you are.”

“Right at the end of the war I wrote a piano sonata, which was written at a time when Sam Barber used to come down here and we used to have lunch together in a very nice old hotel that's now not there.”

“An auditory scenario for the players to act out with their instruments.”

“Find some fun way to get a little more oil on your hands or mud on your boots. Sometimes, that's what it takes to take down some of the really big problems.”

“I want to show two things. One, that Democrats can solve big problems and get things done. And two, that as a public official, you can make tough choices, do the right things for the right reasons, and upset some people. And still get elected.”

“If I have learned anything from my time in Congress, it is that the only way we are going to solve the big problems our country faces is by working together.”