Quotes from Alec Wilder

There was no ambition to be famous, no desire to have pieces played by famous orchestras, no secret wish for commissions or prizes or for being "taken up" by prominent art lovers. I simply hoped I could learn to do something well.

When you're young, no matter how many unpleasant things have happened to you (unless by that time you've become hopelessly neurotic), hope returns daily, even hourly. The sight of a beautiful person, bird, tree, house, flower can lift your spirits like a thermal does the wings of a gliding gull!