I am attracted only to music which I consider to be better than it can be performed.

The sonatas of Mozart are unique; they are too easy for children, and too difficult for artists.

I know two kinds of audiences only--one coughing, and one not coughing.

The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes - ah, that is where the art resides.

I always make sure that the lid over the keyboard is open before I start to play.

Sunshine can burn you, food can poison you, words can condemn you, pictures can insult you; music cannot punish - only bless.

When a piece gets difficult, make faces.

Children are given Mozart because of the small quantity of the notes; grown-ups avoid Mozart because of the great quality of the notes.

Mozart is a garden, Schubert is a forest in light and shade, but Beethoven is a mountain range.

Practice in tranquility.

It is not music's function to express rational necessities.

You are the owner and controller of the most powerful engine with the potential to win all wars of life—it is your ever changing mind.

What is nice about country music today is that most artists are not trying to do something everybody else is doing. They really are trying to develop their own uniqueness.

No one believed [the 1986 amnesty for illegal aliens] was tough enough on illegal immigration, and it didn't give enough flexibility on future legal immigration.

The Italians are the most civilized people. And they're very warm. Basically, they're Jews with great architecture.

When you're in the desert you witness acts of power. When you're in the world of the tonal, drop all that nonsense, become logical and orderly and have fun with that.

Television is a great leveler. You always end up sounding like the people who ask the questions.

Many times, people attack the well-to-do people. They see an opportunity.

I've always said that I'm open to changes in the relations between Cuba and the U.S., but that Cuba must make changes also.

He felt homesick for places he had never been. He missed hearts he had never loved.

We can pray perfectly when we are out in the mountains or on a lake and we feel at one with nature. Nature speaks for us or rather speaks to us. We pray perfectly.