A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation.

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.

I'm very happy to hear that my work inspires writers and painters. It's the most beautiful compliment, the greatest reward. Art should always be an exchange.

Real popular culture is folk art - coalminers' songs and so forth.

Music with dinner is an insult, both to the cook and the violinist.

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.

Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth.

To play without passion is inexcusable!

Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.

The spoken form is in fact a very restrained representation of what is possible in the musical language.

I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.

Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, but when you have it, you have it all over.

The only escape from the miseries of life are music and cats...

It's so sweet, I feel like my teeth are rotting when I listen to the radio.

I passionately hate the idea of being with it, I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.

Play it fuckin' loud!

Singers come and go, but if you're a good actor, you can last a long time

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.

Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together.