Gustav Mahler

All that is not perfect down to the smallest detail is doomed to perish.

The real art of conducting consists in transitions.

I am hitting my head against the walls, but the walls are giving way.

I turned into a monk when my mother went to learn Buddhism in Burma. While she learnt at the monastery, I used to roam around with a begging bowl and ask for food.

With my early work I got eviscerated by my male professors, and so you learned to disguise your impulses, as many women have done. And that's definitely changed.

The flaw of an amateur is to assume what's in our head is what's on the page.