Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to all his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult.

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.

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

Never forget that your days are blessed. You may know how to profit by them, or you may not, but they are blesses.

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.

It is one thing to be gifted and quite another thing to be worthy of one's own gift.

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.