Do we dare be ourselves? That is the question that counts.

To be a musician is a great privilege but it is also a very great responsibility. One must think that to be a musician is a gift - a gift from Nature. There is no great merit in us except in loving this gift with respect and devotion and doing everything possible to honor that gift by work and more work. We must work with conviction and humility, searching for beauty, simplicity, and the Truth. And it is for us musicians to do all in our power for a better world. Music must carry the message of beauty, of love and of peace.

Every wrong seems possible today, and is accepted. I don't accept it.

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

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?

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

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