Kids need to be structured in some way, but you don't want to force something down their throats that they have no interest in.

I don't want to portray myself as a daredevil. I'm not at all.

The best way to refine an interpretation is by getting out and performing.

I hope I will always have the chance to play the violin.

When you play a violin piece, you are a storyteller, and you're telling a story.

You only live once, so I try to say yes to everything.

You don't have to have lots of love affairs to know what love is.

There's nothing more frustrating than seeing a conductor say, 'Play softer,' as they're waving their hands in huge gestures.

Conducting is a strange thing to teach.

Actors want to do Shakespeare again and again, or want to do Hamlet. When you hear one guy do Hamlet and another guy do it, it's going to be a whole different experience.

Every orchestra is different. Sometimes, you're blown away by a particular musician. If I'm playing the Brahms concerto, it's crucial to have a great oboe player, because we work in tandem.

The goal was to get sane, to get whole, to be complete enough to support someone else.

The computer will live your life, listen to you and understand you better than humans can.

Young writers should read books past bedtime and write things down in notebooks when they are supposed to be doing something else.

I would love to see a giant squid. Very few people have seen them. And only about half a dozen people have seen one alive.

I have the distinction of speaking to you from one of the few countries that still has a communist party.

Somebody said that I am the last American living the tragedy of Europe.

A jealous man is very quick in his application: he knows how to find a double edge in an invective, and to draw a satire on himself out of a panegyrick on another.

When you're in the world looking for only one thing, you find it or it finds you. The obsession can be mutual

We are far more than our bodies and personalities. The inner spirit is always beautiful and lovable, no matter how our outer appearances may change.

There's always some room for improvisation.