The Essential Conditions Of Everything You Do

Music Was Not Invented By The Composer, But Found.

It Is Nothing To Succeed If One Has Not Taken Great Trouble, And It Is Nothing To Fail If One Has Done The Best One Could.

[on Being Asked How It Felt To Be The First Female Conductor Of The Boston Symphony:] I've Been A Woman For A Little More Than Fifty Years, And I've Gotten Over My Original Astonishment.

Nothing Is Better Than Music; When It Takes Us Out Of Time, It Has Done More For Us Than We Have The Right To Hope For: It Has Broadened The Limits Of Our Sorrowful Life, It Has Lit Up The Sweetness Of Our Hours Of Happiness By Effacing The Pettinesses That Diminish Us, Bringing Us Back Pure And New To What Was, What Will Be, What Music Has Created For Us.

Life Is Denied By Lack Of Attention, Whether It Be To Cleaning Windows Or Trying To Write A Masterpiece.