The flame that is naturally clear always gives the most light and heat. If I could blend my talent for poetry and music into one, the light would burn still clearer, and I might go far.

If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. therefore, respect every musician in his proper place.

The principal mark of genius is not perfection, but originality.

To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.

Talent works, genius creates.

When you play, never mind who listens to you.

For me, music is always the language which permits one to converse with the Beyond.

Play always as if in the presence of a master.

I am so fresh in soul and spirit that life gushes and bubbles around me in a thousand springs.

When you play, do not trouble yourself as to who is listening. Yet always play as though a master listened to you.

In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of.

Prayer is an acknowledgment that our need of God's help is not partial but total.

…I keep looking for one more teacher, only to find that fish learn from the water and birds learn from the sky.” (p.275)

In Romanticism, the main determinant is the mood, the atmosphere. And in that regard, you could also describe Schubert as a Romantic.

I can give you high blood pressure just on the phone by criticizing you. On the other hand, I can send a tweet to somebody in China and give them a dopamine hit.

Sometimes Aristotle analyses his terms, but very often he takes them for granted; and in the latter case, I think, he is sometimes deceived by them.

French people are Italian people in a bad mood.

Without imagination, there is no goodness, no wisdom.

Most men fail, not through lack of education or agreeable personal qualities, but from lack of dogged determination, from lack of dauntless will.

Liberty must be a mighty thing; for by it God punishes and rewards nations.

It was so sweet backstage, you should have seen it - The Teamsters were helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his limo.