A great work is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty.

Do nothing for effect. Do it for truth.

As far as the execution is concerned ... the most frequent and most serious mistake is to follow the music instead of preceding it.

False notes can be forgiven, false music cannot.

To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them.

Without a strong cup to carry the emotion, it is only a curiosity. Great art can come to us only in strong cups. Without emotion, there is nothing to carry.

[On being asked how it felt to be the first female conductor of the Boston Symphony:] I've been a woman for a little more than fifty years, and I've gotten over my original astonishment.