Leonard Bernstein

In music the passions enjoy themselves.

I learned more about conducting from Toscanini than from anyone else.

The joy of music should be the joy of living.

One doesn't print a book to make money, but to spread one's ideas.

Symphony is the highest form of art.

I hate music, except mine.

The conductor's joy is to make the orchestra sound as if it's one voice.

Art is the highest form of hope.

My music is best understood by children and animals.

To be a musician is a curse. To NOT be one is even worse.

Beethoven's music is music about music.

I am no longer what I was, but what I am becoming.

The artist's life cannot be otherwise than full of conflicts.

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

I don't think any musician starts his life wanting to conduct.

Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination.

The orchestra is like a body, and the conductor is the head.

Love is the crowning grace of humanity.

Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop a capacity for nagging himself.

The gift of imagination is the greatest gift.