Richard Strauss

Bear in mind that you are not making music for your own pleasure, but for the pleasure of your audience.

Never let the horns and woodwinds out of your sight; if you can hear them at all, they are too loud.

I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer.

I'm interested in the psychological exploration of human nature, and it just happens to come in the form of film-making.

Recently, I was in Bernalda, my dad's ancestral home town in Italy. He has just refurbished a palazzo and turned it into a hotel, so we had my sister's wedding there. It was beautiful.

Marriage can be work, it can be difficult, it can be hard, but I think working through those times makes you stronger as a couple and as a unit.