"No form of theocracy, whether it's manifested in a violent or non-violent form, is ever good for civilisation, and we have to challenge it in civil society as well as we would challenge Christian-based theocracy, or any other form of bigotry."

“Nature is God's. Art is man's instrument.”

Source : Thomas Sackville Dorset (Earl of), Sir Thomas Overbury (1760). “Prolusions; or, Select pieces of antient poetry,--compil'd with great care from their several originals: and offer'd to the publick as specimens of the integrity that should be found in the editions of worthy authors, in three parts ... with a preface ...”, p.64

“Many of the greatest men that ever lived have written biography.Boswell was one ofthesmallest menthat ever lived and he has beaten them all.”

“Suddenly I am furious, that with my life on the line, they don’t even have the decency to pay attention to me. That I’m being upstaged by a dead pig.”

“I think every artist should follow their vision, their hearts is what they need to reveal, not something that society is looking out for.”

Source : "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

“There [is] a feeling of recognition, as of meeting an old friend, which comes to us all in the face of great artistic experiences. I had the same experience when I first heard an English folksong, when I first saw Michelangelo's Day and Night, when I suddenly came upon Stonehenge or had my first sight of New York City - the intuition that I had been there already.”

Source : "R.V.W.: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams". Book by Ursula Vaughan Williams, p. 30, "Musical Autobiography" (1950), 1964.

“Science is the one human activity that is truly progressive. The body of positive knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation.”

“Signori has all the tricks up his book.”

“In preparing the soil for planting, you will need several tools. Dynamite would be a beautiful thing to use, but it would have a tendency to get the dirt into the front-hall and track up the stairs.”