Each Person Has Inside A Basic Decency

I Was At Mount Tamalpais Near San Francisco Hiking When A Boulder Came Hurling Down The Mountainside And Smashed My Left Hand. When I Looked At My Mangled Bloody Fingers, I Had A Strange Reaction. 'thank God I Will Never Have To Play Again,' I Said. The Fact Is That Dedication To One's Art Does Involve A Sort Of Enslavement.

For The Past Eighty Years I Have Started Each Day In The Same Manner... I Go To The Piano, And I Play Preludes And Fugues Of Bach... It Is A Sort Of Benediction On The House.

The Most Perfect Technique Is That Which Is Not Noticed At All.

I Am An Old Man But In Many Senses A Very Young Man. And This Is What I Want You To Be, Young, Young All Your Life.

To Be A Musician Is A Great Privilege But It Is Also A Very Great Responsibility. One Must Think That To Be A Musician Is A Gift - A Gift From Nature. There Is No Great Merit In Us Except In Loving This Gift With Respect And Devotion And Doing Everything Possible To Honor That Gift By Work And More Work. We Must Work With Conviction And Humility, Searching For Beauty, Simplicity, And The Truth. And It Is For Us Musicians To Do All In Our Power For A Better World. Music Must Carry The Message Of Beauty, Of Love And Of Peace.