Good listening is always the first step in the process that creates technique and capability

Failing to remember is the primary reason for most performers' poor practising habits.

The most valuable practice aid is patience.

It is the height of professionalism to be able to make an ordinary piece of music sound good. When playing routine melodic studies the player must treat them as if they are musical value.

The underlying aim of practice . .is to create certainty through the development of high-quality listening.

As soon as effective listening takes place, the ear identifies what needs to be done and guides the techniques search for a solution

. . when the initial excitement of playing starts to evaporate, good habits are needed to sustain the learning process.

Sound is not simply what we hear or play, but equally a feeling in the body

People will reveal themselves to you. In single moments they show you what they are.

You know I hate to chase. I'm only here to talk, but if you run, I'll have to chase and we both know where that usually ends up.

I'm an urban New Yorker to the last molecule.

Life and death matters, yes. And the question of how to behave in this world, how to go in the face of everything. Time is short and the water is rising.

My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can't live without it.

A comedian sees the world bent. I'm tangent to the circle.

Dreams are symbolic in order that they cannot be understood; in order that the wish, which is the source of the dream, may remain unknown.

Don’t hide your scars. They make you who you are

I do realise how incredibly lucky I am.

The Tax Collector's letters are invariably mimeographed, and all they say is that you still haven't paid him.