Listening to the Fifth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams is like staring at a cow for 45 minutes.

- Aaron Copland

The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.

- Aaron Copland

The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking "Is there a meaning to music?" My answer would be, "Yes", And "Can you state in so many words …

- Aaron Copland

If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles.

- Aaron Copland

Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.

- Aaron Copland

To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.

- Aaron Copland

Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never m…

- Aaron Copland

The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It's useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.

- Aaron Copland

You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down some sort of permane…

- Aaron Copland