Any gifted child can potentially get in real trouble because of the way they are handled.

This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in five or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development.

I couldn't only do one thing--I don't want the personal hell of oneness.

For every child prodigy that you know about, at least 50 potential ones have burned out before you even heard about them.

The most important thing to do is really listen.

I don't walk on stage unless I'm playing with a orchestra. But when I play a recital, I'm sort of on a scooter, and I just scoot very quickly on stage, and they're saying, wow, look at this. He's so fast.

That's the goal, to survive your gift.