Great Throughts Treasury

"The greatest gypsy violinist of the era played the adagio from Bach's G minor Solo Sonata. It was the most fiery, the freest Bach I have ever heard. Also the best. This gypsy had none of our fears and inhibitions about what to do or not do in Bach. He played uncensored, from the heart."

"The halls in the small Western towns in which I played were often loud and boisterous. One day I walked into a saloon, and was soon involved in a poker game with some gun-toting cowboys, and I was winning. I was afraid for a moment that my concert tour might come to an unforeseen conclusion. Finally I was fortunate enough to loose."

"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? There is a brotherhood among all men. This must be recognized if life is to remain. We must learn the love of man."

"The most important thing in music is what is not in the notes."

"These [Bach music for solo cello] suites had been deemed academic rubbish, mechanical studies without musical warmth ? can you imagine that? How could they be considered cold ? these works that positively radiate poetry, warmth and feeling of sound? They are the quintessence of Bach?s work as a composer ? and Bach is the quintessence of all music."

"This is the greatest honor I have ever received in my life. Peace has always been my greatest concern. Yet in my childhood I learned to love it. My mother?an exceptional, brilliant woman ? used to speak to me about it when I was still a child, because in those years there were also a lot of wars. What is more, I am a Catalan. Today, a province of Spain. But what has been Catalonia? Catalonia has been the greatest nation in the world. I will tell you why. Catalonia has had the first parliament, much before England. Catalonia had the first United Nations. All the authorities of Catalonia in the Eleventh Century met in a city of France, at that time Catalonia, to speak about peace, at the Eleventh Century. Peace in the world and against, against, against war, the inhumanity of the wars. So I am so happy, so happy, to be with you today. That is why the United Nations, which works solely towards the peace ideal, is in my heart, because anything to do with peace goes straight to my heart."

"Throughout my career, nervousness and stage-fright have never left me before playing. And each of the thousands of concerts I have played at, I feel as bad as I did the very first time."

"To "retire" means to me to begin to die. The man who works and is never bored is never old. Work and interest in worthwhile things are the best remedy for age. Each day I am reborn. Each day I must begin again."

"To retire is the beginning of death."

"To retire is to die."

"We are not free to walk on our neighbor's toes."

"We must all work to make this world worthy of its children."

"We ought to think that we are one of the leaves of a tree, and the tree is all humanity. We cannot live without the others, without the tree."

"We should say to each of them [our children]: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel?"

"What do we teach our children? . . . We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique . . . You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything."

"What do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?"

"When Pablo Casals, the cellist, was ninety-one years old, he was approached by a student who asked, "Master, why do you continue to practice?" Casals replied: "Because I am making progress.""

"When we play an unaccompanied Bach suite we may compare ourselves to an actor in Shakespeare's day, creating scenery which did not exist at all, through the power of declamation and suggestion. So in Bach. There is but one voice -- and many voices have to be suggested."

"You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel."