To be alive, to able to see, to walk...it's all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle.

When I sit in Paris in a cafe, surrounded by people, I don't sit casually - I go over a certain sonata in my head and discover new things all the time.

People are always setting conditions for happiness... I love life without condition.

Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.

Don't tell me how talented you are. Tell me how hard you work.

At every concert I leave a lot to the moment. I must have the unexpected, the unforeseen. I want to risk, to dare. I want to be surprised by what comes out. I want to enjoy it more than the audience. That way the music can bloom anew. It's like making love. The act is always the same, but each time it's different.

I'm a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine - and that's all I want to have.