The principal task of a conductor is not to put himself in evidence but to disappear behind his functions as much as possible. We are pilots, not servants.

As the mother teaches her children how to express themselves in their language, so one Gypsy musician teaches the other. They have never shown any need for notation.

It is impossible to imagine a more complete fusion with nature than that of the Gypsy.

I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.

Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day.

Brahms' Variations are better than mine, but mine were written before his.

The public is always good.

Truth is a great flirt.

Supreme serenity still remains the Ideal of great Art. The shapes and transitory forms of life are but stages toward this Ideal, which Christ's religion illuminates with His divine light.

The character of instrumental music... lets the emotions radiate and shine in their own character without presuming to display them as real or imaginary representations.

In Hungary all native music, in its origin, is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance.

Without any assistance whatever, I founded a school in Weimar in 10 years. Only I could perform certain works with the scanty means that I dared not ask anyone else to work with.

Real men are sadly lacking in this world, for when they are put to the test they prove worthless.

I conclude that the Wagnerian operas which are already in the repertoire, and other masterworks as well, stand in no further need of my services.

Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.

A person of any mental quality has ideas of his own. This is common sense.

Life is only a long and bitter suicide, and faith alone can transform this suicide into a sacrifice.

We need improvement in the style of performance. There is no more advantage in a musician who plays and conducts than in one who is only a beater of rhythm.

It is my fervent wish and my greatest ambition to leave a work with a few useful instructions for the pianists after me.

Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny.

I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment... rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood.

I foster a sorrowful conception of affection. Make no sacrifices.

Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.

Broad paths are open to every endeavour, and a sympathetic recognition is assured to every one who consecrates his art to the divine services of a conviction of a consciousness.

The music of the Gypsies belongs in the sphere of improvisation rather than in any other, without which it would have no power to exist.

Companions, in misery and worse, that is what we all are, and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.

A theatre receives recognition through its initiative, which is indispensable for first-rate performances.

Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.

The principal task of a conductor is not to put himself in evidence but to disappear behind his functions as much as possible. We are pilots, not servants.

Beware of missing chances otherwise it may be altogether too late some day.

Companions in misery and worse that is what we all are and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.

You cannot imagine how it spoils one to have been a child prodigy.

I sort of feel like 'Mad Men' fans are like sci-fi fans because they are very, very devoted, and they're very loyal and very excited about it.

I've read a lot of different versions of myself - and all of them are true because it's all opinion, and they're as accurate as it can ever be. But I don't think that I've been deft at hiding parts of my personality.

None think the great unhappy but the great.

It's very hard to live in an environment where you're reminded, constantly told that your existence just happens to be here... That you are not meant to be here.

Religious fanatics want people to switch off their own minds, ignore the evidence, and blindly follow a holy book based upon private 'revelation'.

Francois Hollande is the president of the republic, he must be respected. I want to wish him good luck in the midst of these tests.

A single conversation with a wise man is better than 10 years of study.

I'm always crying. I get a lump in my throat when I see intimacy between parents and their children.

I have no control over what people think, and if I were to spend energy on that, I would be a lifeless, deadened human being.

There can be no compromise on the right of personal security; there can be no compromise on securing of human rights.

I love country music. I don't ever feel restricted by the genre.

I'm a person that thinks time is very precious and our only commodity... It's so upsetting when I feel like something has wasted my time.

PETA has a proven track record of success. Each victory PETA wins for the animals is a stepping stone upon which we build a more compassionate world for all beings - and we will never give up our fight until all animals are treated with respect and kindness.

It wasn't until after the reduction that in the lab work, the pathology, that they found that I had DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) in my left breast. I was very, very lucky because DCIS is basically stage-zero cancer. So I was very lucky.

I firmly believe that our salvation depends on the poor.

The drug war has been a war where the direct casualties have primarily been America's poor; America's minorities; and often, unfortunately, America's vulnerable, in terms of people with disease and addiction and mental health.

A journey awakens all our old fears of danger and risk. Your life is on the line. You are living by your own resources; you have to find your own way and solve every problem on the road.