Even I had no opportunity to conduct very many concerts after World War II.

Even my family laughed at me because they thought this young guy who's always stuttering in front of other people should be in front of 100 musicians and talk to them and leading them.

An orchestra full of stars can be a disaster.

If every school would hire two more music teachers, we would need two fewer police officers.

Young conductors who are confident enough, they very often have success.

Sometimes if you have very confident people, you have to tell them please, be polite, there are other players are good enough as you and you should never speak out of an orchestra.

I always imagined that to bring an orchestra to play together is not enough for a conductor.

And if you are strong enough, then you can grow as a conductor more and more.

What I never overcame is a kind of shyness.

I was different from most young conductors today.

And at the same time, I had my very first concert at the age of 16. I hadn't heard a symphony orchestra before, and I was so deeply impressed I said I have to be a conductor.

God, this is why I can never live with women. They go off into corners and think, maybe it’s this, maybe it’s that. Ask, woman. Ask.

What's in a name?

Einstein...even failed physics once, but he'd never thought of giving up school to make a living.

How do you lose a word? Does it vanish into your memory, like an old toy in a cupboard, and lie hidden in the cobwebs and dust, waiting to be cleaned out or rediscovered?

There is nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.

Every man is like the company he wont to keep.

[Hiking] is not that crazy, but when you look back and you see that mountain you just climbed, you say, "I can't believe I did that."

I think perhaps of all the things a police state can do to its citizens, distorting history is possibly the most pernicious.

So enjoy the pleasures of the hour as not to spoil those that are to follow.

It matters little if something is 'craft' or 'art.' The question is only this: does it give me pleasure?