You have to change your mind with every orchestra because every orchestra has a different character.

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.

The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don't.

If you ignore every single thing Jesus told you to do, you are just auditing. You're not a Christian.

Well, I'd love to work with Kate Winslet - she's amazing.

I used to wear heels because I wanted to show people I wasn't ashamed of being tall.

We worship perfection because we can't have it; if we had it, we would reject it. Perfection is inhuman, because humanity is imperfect.

It is the customer that pays the wages

Great books conserve time.

The great majority of men grow up and grow old in seeming and following.

Lastly (and this is, perhaps, the golden rule), no woman should marry a man who does not smoke.

I am really the most controversial artist in the world.