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

The art of music is so deep and profound that to approach it very seriously only is not enough. One must approach music with a serious rigor and, at the same time, with a great, affectionate joy.

Nothing is better than music; when it takes us out of time, it has done more for us than we have the right to hope for.

[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.

False notes can be forgiven, false music cannot.

Music was not invented by the composer, but found.

It is easier to analyze a work in its form, in its evolution, than simply to love it with all the living forces of our heart. It is easier to define its peculiarities and its details than to draw out of it its emotion, its thought.