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

Sometimes when I sit down to practice and there is no one else in the room, I have to stifle an impulse to ring for the elevator man and offer him money to come in and hear me.

The result was magnificent . . . I became the father of two girls and two boys, lovely children by good fortune they all look like my wife.

Sometimes I think, not so much am I a pianist, but a vampire. All my life I have lived off the blood of Chopin.

You cannot play the piano well unless you are singing within you.

Even when I'm sick and depressed, I love life.

What good are vitamins? Eat a lobster, eat a pound of caviar - live! If you are in love with a beautiful blonde with an empty face and no brains at all, don't be afraid. Marry her! Live!