I was different from most young conductors today.

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.

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.

At the age of 16, something happened with my finger and the doctor told me, you never can be a organist or pianist, so think about what you do with music.

Never would I have a man saying what or who were best for me, and that were all there were to it.

If you are right, no one will bother you in this world. If you do not hurt anyone in this world, or you have no intention of hurting anyone, then no one can hurt you.

All I knew was that in a way I couldn't explain, his hug matched his stare.

You can't truly appreciate the top if you've never hit rock bottom.

The years seem to rush by now and I think of death as a fast approaching end of a journey-double and treble reason for loving as well as working while it is day.

Finding out exactly what went wrong is key toward preventing future debacles.

You are perfect, whole and complete. You needn't add anything to yourself to experience your true power.

O Innocence, with laughing eyes! Thou art a cherub from the skies, A wanderer from heaven.

As I said, I had no publisher for What a Carve Up! while I was writing it, so all we had to live off was my wife's money and little bits I was picking up for journalism.

Workouts are like brushing my teeth; I don't think about them, I just do them. The decision has already been made.