The longer you live and the more you learn, the more clearly you will feel the difference between the few men who are truly great and the mere virtuosi.

It is easier to achieve a desired result in short pieces.

Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

That which draws us by its mystical force; what every created thing, even the very stones, feels with absolute certainty as the center of its being... is the force of love. Christians call this "eternal blessedness." It is a necessity of man for growth and joy.

I hope you will no longer accuse me of a lack of delicacy. as I now count on your understanding.

In Bach, the vital cells of music are united as the world is in God.