Gustav Mahler

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

The real art of conducting consists in transitions.

Don't bother looking at the view - I have already composed it.

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.

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

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.