One should be able to say to our children: You are a marvel! You are unique. In all the world, there is no other child exactly like you. In the millions of years that have passed, there has never been another child like you! ... and when you grow up, can you harm another who is, like you, a marvel?

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

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe; a moment that never was before and never will be again.

For twelve years I studied and worked at them every day, and I was nearly 25 before I had the courage to play one of them in public. Before I did, no violinist or cellist had ever played a Suite in its entirety.

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.

Resist doing things that have no meaning for life.

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