It takes courage for people to listen to their own goodness and act on it.

The art of not playing in tempo--one has to learn it. And the art of not playing what is written on the printed paper.

Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it in the most perfect way.

Thank God, I'll never have to play the cello again.

I do not think a day passes in my life in which I fail to look with fresh amazement at the miracle of nature.

The most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all.

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