Everyone is different. Sometimes it's very exciting; sometimes very scary.

Applause should be an emotional response to the music, rather than a regulated social duty.

Mozart often wrote to his family that certain variations or sections of pieces were so successful that they had to be encored immediately, even without waiting for the entire piece to end.

We should welcome applause whenever it comes.

I have been coming to Los Angeles since 1975 to perform.

When one plays a Steinway, there is a warmth and nobility in the sound that is unequalled by any other instrument.

I have always thought that my ear is also very influenced by my eyes.

Pianists don't argue too much generally because we have a hard enough time just getting things right. Arguing is for string players.

We seem to have set up some very arcane rules as to when it is actually OK to applaud.

Sometimes I wish that applause would come just a bit later, when it is so beautifully hushed that I feel like holding my breath in the silence of the end.

All of us love applause, and so we should - it means that the listener likes us!

Much of the debate over global warming is predicated on fear, rather than science.

If somebody says, "You like putting out fires," and I say, "It's not a case of liking it, but I do put them out, and if there aren't fires left I make them, so I can put them out." It's what we do.

If Michael Jordan was a damn plumber, he couldn't get a date. Any guy got $500 million looks good.

Explaining something makes it go away, so to speak; what's important is left after you have explained everything else.

For none can express thee, though all should approve thee. I love thee so, Dear, that I only can love thee.

Elections in Nigeria Under My Watch Have Been Credible and Transparent

Many times you never know what's going to happen. You'll play songs that you never thought you were going to play.

We cannot allow religious hooligans to place limiting points on thought.

Conservatism is the politics of reality

It started with the Godfather, this operatic violence. I don't know.