I am inclined to believe that some music, like certain poetry, finds its appeal and way to all.

Music is the only art that actually lives.

The very essence of success is practice.

America, the country of my heart, my second home.

I established a certain standard of behavior, that, during my playing, there must be no talking.

Change follows change in us, almost without transition; we pass from blissful rapture to sobbing woe; a single step divides our sublimest ecstasies from the darkest depth of spiritual despondency.

Art without technique is invertebrate, shapeless, characterless.