I've come to the conclusion that a long, personal relationship is next to impossible for me. Ultimately, music is a possessive mistress.

How could a New Yorker possibly take something called the Hollywood String Quartet seriously?

The role of an orchestra in the 21st century isn't just playing, it's about developing future audiences and performers.

We need music to restore the human spirit

I use my hands like a sculptor, to mold and shape the sound I want, to clarify.

The convergence of the Rhone and Saone. Paul Bocuse. The birthplace of cinema. Chateauneuf-du-Pape just a few miles down the road. It does not get much better than Lyon.

An orchestra knows during the first two minutes of the first rehearsal whether or not they are going to enjoy the person on the podium.

There is no 'perfect' in music. If I ever came off the stage and felt it could not be better, it would then be time to quit.

We are a global society, and one does not have to be from Germany to give a great performance of Beethoven.

I don't really think about retiring. I will retire just before people start saying, 'I knew Leonard Slatkin when he conducted well.

Over the years it has been my privilege to lead performances with Saint Louis, the National Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and so many other wonderful organizations.

When we speak of the Path we mean much more than a course of study. The Path is a way of life and on it the whole being must co-operate if the heights are to be won.

People in a hurry cannot think cannot grow nor can they decay. They are preserved in a state of perpetual puerility.

Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late.

Only you and I who love Jesus and have Him now before this life's death will be able to be among the special super-citizens of the Heavenly City, a special super-class of people!

Sometimes funerals can be good. It reunites you with your cousins you haven't seen in a while.

There's never been anybody in the history politics in America that's been so abusive to women. So you can say any way you want to say it, but Bill Clinton was abusive to women.

Erosion, desertification, and pollution have become our lot. It is a weird form of suicide, for we are bleeding our planet to death.

You eat the room service employees every time?” Denise asked, shocked. “Of course. But don’t fret on their behalf. I always tip well.

The US needs military/defense, economic, and social strategies. A medium-sized business, by contrast, is normally best off focusing its efforts on a single crucial objective.

I'd live in Glasgow if I could. I can't praise it enough; it's the nicest place I have ever worked and I've worked in a lot of nice places.