For Me, Bach Is Like Shakespeare. He

To Retire Is The Beginning Of Death.

Real Understanding Does Not Come From What We Learn In Books; It Comes From What We Learn From Love Of Nature, Of Music, Of Man. For Only What Is Learned In That Way Is Truly Understood.

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.

The Truly Important Things In Life - Love, Beauty, And One's Own Uniqueness - Are Constantly Being Overlooked.

The Miracle Of Bach Has Not Appeared In Any Other Art. To Strip Human Nature Until Its Divine Attributes Are Made Clear, To Inform Ordinary Activities With Spiritual Fervour, To Give Wings Of Eternity To That Which Is Most Ephemeral; To Make Divine Things Human And Human Things Divine; Such Is Bach, The Greatest And Purest Moment In Music Of All Time.