I was supposed to be a doctor. I was supposed to go to Princeton. And everything I was supposed to do I didn't.

- Samuel Barber

He is a lyric poet . . . aloof from the swirling currents in which many of his colleagues are immersed.

- Samuel Barber

I was meant to be a composer and will be I'm sure. Don't ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football - please.

- Samuel Barber

How awful that the artist has become nothing but the after-dinner mint of society.

- Samuel Barber

I have always believed that I need a circumference of silence. As to what happens to when I composer, I really haven't the faintest idea.

- Samuel Barber