The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but the most difficult to play.

I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer.

I want to be able to depict in music a glass of beer so accurately that every listener can tell whether it is a Pilsner or a Kulmbacher.

I shall never be converted, and I shall remain true to my old religion of the classics until my life's end.

Ideas, like young wine, should be put in storage and taken up again only after they have been allowed to ferment and to ripen.

Its a funny thing Alice, dying is just the way I composed it in Tod und Verklärung.

On conducting: If you can just barely hear the French horns on stage, the balance is perfect.

If you think that the brass is not blowing loud enough, mute it by a couple of degrees.

Never look at the trombones, you'll just encourage them.

Never look at the brass - it only encourages them.

Must one become seventy years old to recognize that one's greatest strength lies in creating musical kitsch?

A bird in The Strand is worth two in Shepherds Bush

Never say "I don't care"! We are all looking up to you. Dare to break the fence that confines you! Make it happen!

A dear friend of mine once told me that the only way around is through. I now live by this.

Spiritual achievement costs much, though never as much as it is worth.

When God overcomes our difficulties for us, we have the assurance that we are engaged in His work and not our own

I have a very personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It doesn't depend on the fact that he can walk on water.

If I, being a mother of two, can win a medal, so can you all. Take me as an example and don't give up.

You feel better in the short run when you have a tub of ice cream, but in the long run, you don't.

America, which leads the world in so many ways, can end childhood hunger within its borders.

Each of us sees in others what we carry in our own hearts.