I adore tradition. I cannot stand habit. Simply to repeat is nothing, also to destroy is nothing. Tradition is never interrupted, we are always evolving but never interrupted.

Do not take up music unless you would rather die than not do so.

It is nothing to succeed if one has not taken great trouble, and it is nothing to fail if one has done the best one could.

Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.

The Constitution of the United States is not a mere lawyers' document; it is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of the age.

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

Without discipline, there can be no freedom.