Parents shouldn't lie to their children-not even when they think it's for their own good. Even a little lie is dangerous.

Throughout my career, nervousness and stage-fright have never left me before playing. And each of the thousands of concerts I have played at, I feel as bad as I did the very first time.

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

The cello is like a beautiful woman who has not grown older, but younger with time, more slender, more supple, more graceful.

The first thing to do in life is to do with purpose what one purposes to do.

What do we teach our children? . . . We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique . . . You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything.

There is no substitute for work; what seems ease of performance comes from the greatest labor.