You do not lose your value or preciousness when you grow to be a adult. You are still that miraculous creation. You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.

I used to think that eighty was a very old age. Now I am ninety. I do not think this any more. As long as you are able to admire and to love, you are young.

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

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

The earth becomes heaven when you release your fear. The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human.

The miracle of Bach has not appeared in any other art. To strip human nature until its divine attributes are made clear, to inform ordinary activities with spiritual fervour, to give wings of eternity to that which is most ephemeral; to make divine things human and human things divine; such is Bach, the greatest and purest moment in music of all time.

If you play Bach every day, you are not so alone.