Scoring the 'Psycho' remake: "The chance to adapt his work and hear it performed live was thrilling. My goal was to bring freshness to the score without straying from the impulses of the original and to record it with the energy that I believe Mr. Herrmann intended. It was really a once in a lifetime experience." - CD liner notes

The Academy Awards 1998: "There was a joke going around: Even if they created a category for best Danny Elfman score, they'd still find a reason not to nominate me. There are a lot of people in the Academy who really hated my guts." - Entertainment Weekly #422, March 13, 1998

Formal wear: "You'll never get me into a tux. Not until I'm dead and I have no choice because that's what the undertaker put me in." - Entertainment Weekly #422, March 13, 1998

On conjuring: "A movie starts with a writer alone in a room conjuring something out of vapor, and it ends with a score composer talking to himself in a little room, conjuring something out of vapor." - Los Angeles Times, 1999

His obituary: "It'll say, 'Danny Elfman, who wrote the theme to 'The Simpsons,' etcetera. That's what I'll be remembered for." - 1999 Los Angeles Times

Danny on being overworked: "It's convenient in a way, because you don't have to answer many questions: People say, 'Man, how are you feeling?' And I say, 'How do I look?' And they go, 'Oh, OK.' I've got the coffin maker calling every now and then about measurements, wanting to give me a proper fit." -May 15th, 1994, Los Angeles Times

Having several careers: "I have three careers. It's like I have three hungry children. Whoever screams the loudest gets the attention." - June 12th, 1994, San Francisco Chronicle

The confusion surrounding the score of 'Batman': "None of this is Prince's fault. People heard Prince was writing songs for the movie and assumed he was doing he score. But the score is all that music that underscores the action. I did that.....I just spent three months, working night and day on this score. I'm proud of it. I want people to realize that I wrote it." - June 27th, 1989, Los Angeles Times

About his childhood hobby of clipping photos from "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine: "Every inch of wall space of my room was covered. It drove my mother crazy." - October 25th, 1990, Los Angeles Times

Singing as Jack Skellington: "We were creating this eccentric character, and while writing the songs and fleshing it out, I became very attached to him. I said to Tim, 'There are better singers than I am, but nobody is going to do Jack's character better than I can.'" - October 28th, 1993, Los Angeles Times

On other composers: "It's a very elitist community, much more so than any other aspect of film." -December 9th, 1990, New York Times

About working with Beatty on 'Dick Tracy': "Warren was insane." - November, 1993, Movieline

Living in Africa: "It was the opposite of everything I'd ever known, and I loved it." - 1987, Seventeen

Weird science: When I was a kid, I was heavy into science--radiation biology was my passion. I'd spend my time injecting flies and plants with isotopes." -1990, Seventeen

The outlook: "I'm not a doomist. My attitude is always to be critical of what's around you, but not ever to forget how lucky we are." - Music Connection, (date unknown)

Halloween: "For me, writing something in the spirit of Halloween is like Mother Teresa writing on charity and sacrifice. It's just second nature to me." - 1993, Cinefantastique

Scoring comedies: "I always believe in playing it straight, whether it's a funny scene or not." -- 1989, Fanfare

Stardom: "I've always felt that there's nothing postive about stardom at all. With the exception of, occasionally, getting a better table in a restaurant." - 1991, American Film

A very special thanks to Amber Berebitsky for compiling these following quotes.