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.

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

For the past eighty years I have started each day in the same manner. It is not a mechanical routine, but something essential to my daily life. I go to the piano, and play two preludes and fugues of Bach. I cannot think of doing otherwise. It is a sort of benediction on the house. But that is not its only meaning for me. It is a rediscovery of the world of which I have the joy of being a part. It fills me with awareness of the wonder of life, with a feeling of the incredible marvel of being a human being.

Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it.

Let us not forget that the greatest composers were also the greatest thieves. They stole from everyone and everywhere.

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

As long as one can admire and love, then one is young forever.