 The office of President is a great one; to every true American it seems the greatest on earth. And to me, as I was engaged in weaving a background of music for the pageantry of it, there came a deeper realization of the effect of that office on the man. |
| My religion lies in my composition. |
| Sincere composers believe in God. |
| I had found English audiences highly satisfactory. They are the best listeners in the world. Perhaps the music-lovers of some of our larger cities equal the English, but I do not believe they can be surpassed in that respect. |
| I think that the quality of all bands is steadily improving and it is a pleasant thought to me that perhaps the efforts of Sousa's Band have quickened that interest and improved that quality. |
| Grand opera is the most powerful of stage appeals and that almost entirely through the beauty of music. |
| I can almost always write music; at any hour of the twenty-four, if I put pencil to paper, music comes. |
| Composers are the only people who can hear good music above bad sounds. |
