The only weapons I ever had were my cello and my baton.

Of course, I continue to play and to practice. I think I would do so if I lived for another hundred years.

Rock n' roll is poison put to sound.

I see in the melody of Nature, God. It is a wonderful work of art. The spirit of the art is wonderful. And I feel that I am myself because I have never taken music lightly. Music is the manifestation of God, like everything else.

The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?

The simplest things in music are the ones that count. The simplest thing are, of course, also the most difficult to achieve and take years of work.

I am an old man but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life.