For me, music making is the most joyful activity possible, the most perfect expression of any emotion.

People think I'm disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference.

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.

I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent, and this is what I have devoted my life to.

The rivalry is with ourself. I try to be better than is possible. I fight against myself, not against the other.

If children are not introduced to music at an early age, I believe something fundamental is actually being taken from them.

Music making is the most joyful activity possible, the most perfect expression of any emotion.

Some singers want the audience to love them. I love the audience.

Learning music by reading about it is like making love by mail.

You don't need any brains to listen to music.

As an art form, opera is a rare and remarkable creation. For me, it expresses aspects of the human drama that cannot be expressed in any other way, or certainly not as beautifully.

There is power in controlling something that can do so much damage-in controlling something, period.

Any fight in life whether it is physical, mental, moral, or spiritual, how long you stay in the fight is highly dependent on your growth.

Science cannot stop while ethics catches up ... and nobody should expect scientists to do all the thinking for the country.

Usually, TED only invites the most accomplished and famous people in the world to give talks.

Its like a finger pointing away to the moon. Dont concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.

Hollywood movies are run on fear and they don't want to make bold choices. They, generally, speaking want to keep things status quo. That's not really interesting for me.

The mind is a powerful thing and most people don't use it properly.

I am fighting for those middle-class families who want us to deal with our debt and deficit, but they also want the investments that are critical to our country moving forward.

Texture and pattern should function as a surprise.

Jiva (individual soul) is the conscious ruler of this body, in whom the five life principles come into unity, and yet that very Jiva is the Atman, because all is Atman.