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.

The art of interpretation is not to play what is written.

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

You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.

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.

How could anybody think of Bach as 'cold' when these [cello] suites seem to shine with the most glittering kind of poetry," Casals said. "As I got on with the study I discovered a new world of space and beauty... the feelings I experienced were among the purest and most intense in my artistic life!

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.