Pablo Casals Quotations

The art of interpretation is not to play what is written.

The most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all.

The first thing to do in life is to do with purpose what one purposes to do.

Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.

Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it.

The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? There is a brotherhood among all men. This must be recognized if life is to remain. We must learn the love of man.

I am perhaps the oldest musician in the world. I am an old man but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life, and to say things to the world that are true.

The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.

I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance.

You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.

The heart of the melody can never be put down on paper.

Let us not forget that the greatest composers were also the greatest thieves. They stole from everyone and everywhere.

We ought to think that we are one of the leaves of a tree, and the tree is all humanity. We cannot live without the others, without the tree.

Man has made many machines, complex and cunning, but which of them indeed rivals the workings of his heart?

Let us not forget that the greatest composers where also the greatest thieves. They stole from everyone and everywhere.

To strip human nature until its divine attributes are made clear, to inform ordinary activities with spiritual fervor, to give wings of eternity to that which is most ephemeral; to make divine things human and human things divine; such is Bach, the g

Beauty is all about us, but how may are blind! They look at the wonder of this earth and seem to see nothing. People move hectically but give little thought to where they are going. They seek excitement ... as if they were lost and desperate.

The answer to helplessness is not so very complicated,

I see in the melody of Nature, God. It is a wonderful work of art. The spirit of the art is wonderful. And I feel that I am myself because I have never taken music lightly. Music is the manifestation of God, like everything else.

For twelve years I studied and worked at them every day, and I was nearly 25 before I had the courage to play one of them in public. Before I did, no violinist or cellist had ever played a Suite in its entirety.

Thank God, I'll never have to play the cello again.

The art of not playing in tempo--one has to learn it. And the art of not playing what is written on the printed paper.

In music, in the sea, in a flower, in a leaf, in an act of kindness... I see what people call God in all these things.

The most important thing in music is what is not in the notes.

Rock n' roll is poison put to sound.

I have always regarded manual labour as creative and looked with respect-and, yes, wonder-at people who work with their hands. It seems to me that their creativity is no less than that of a violinist or painter.

Yes, it is true. I am a miracle. I am a miracle like a tree is a miracle, like a flower is a miracle. Now, if I am a miracle, can I do a bad thing? I can't, because I am a miracle, I am a miracle. . . .

Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it

When we play an unaccompanied Bach suite we may compare ourselves to an actor in Shakespeare's day, creating scenery which did not exist at all, through the power of declamation and suggestion. So in Bach. There is but one voice -- and many voices have to be suggested.

The earth becomes heaven when you release your fear. The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human.

As long as one can admire and love, then one is young forever.

You do not lose your value or preciousness when you grow to be a adult. You are still that miraculous creation. You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.

Do we dare be ourselves? That is the question that counts.

How could anybody think of Bach as 'cold' when these [cello] suites seem to shine with the most glittering kind of poetry," Casals said. "As I got on with the study I discovered a new world of space and beauty... the feelings I experienced were among the purest and most intense in my artistic life!

Real understanding does not come from what we learn in books; it comes from what we learn from love of nature, of music, of man. For only what is learned in that way is truly understood.

For the past eighty years I have started each day in the same manner... I go to the piano, and I play preludes and fugues of Bach... It is a sort of benediction on the house.

Kenneth Hari's art work shall influence mankind.

The situation is hopeless, we must take the next step.

Resist doing things that have no meaning for life.

For me, Bach is like Shakespeare. He has known all and felt all. He is everything.

I do not think a day passes in my life in which I fail to look with fresh amazement at the miracle of nature.

When you play Bach like Chopin, and Chopin like Bach, something good happens.

One should be able to say to our children: You are a marvel! You are unique. In all the world, there is no other child exactly like you. In the millions of years that have passed, there has never been another child like you! ... and when you grow up, can you harm another who is, like you, a marvel?

To retire is the beginning of death.

If you play Bach every day, you are not so alone.

For the past eighty years I have started each day in the same manner. It is not a mechanical routine, but something essential to my daily life. I go to the piano, and play two preludes and fugues of Bach. I cannot think of doing otherwise. It is a sort of benediction on the house. But that is not its only meaning for me. It is a rediscovery of the world of which I have the joy of being a part. It fills me with awareness of the wonder of life, with a feeling of the incredible marvel of being a human being.

Throughout my career, nervousness and stage-fright have never left me before playing. And each of the thousands of concerts I have played at, I feel as bad as I did the very first time.

To live is not enough; we must take part.

The only weapons I ever had were my cello and my baton.

Do we dare to be ourselves?' This is the question that counts - and not, 'Must a man be helpless?' ...A man can do something for peace without having to jump into politics.

Music must serve a purpose; it must be a part of something larger than itself, a part of humanity...

Say things to the world that are true.

Music will save the world.

Of course, I continue to play and to practice. I think I would do so if I lived for another hundred years.

To retire is to begin to die.

The greatest respect an artist can pay to music is to give it life.

We are not free to walk on our neighbor's toes.

Don’t be vain because you happen to have talent. You are not responsible for that; it was not of your doing. What you do with your talent is what matters.

To the whole world you might be just one person, but to one person you might just be the whole world.

I am an old man, but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life.

The cello is like a beautiful woman who has not grown older, but younger with time, more slender, more supple, more graceful.

Parents shouldn't lie to their children-not even when they think it's for their own good. Even a little lie is dangerous ...

Every wrong seems possible today, and is accepted. I don't accept it.

The truly important things in life - love, beauty, and one's own uniqueness - are constantly being overlooked.

What do we teach our children? . . . We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique . . . You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything.

The person who works and is never bored is never old. Work and interest in worthwhile things are the best remedy for age.

I used to think that eighty was a very old age. Now I am ninety. I do not think this any more. As long as you are able to admire and to love, you are young.

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe; a moment that never was before and never will be again.

I was at Mount Tamalpais near San Francisco hiking when a boulder came hurling down the mountainside and smashed my left hand. When I looked at my mangled bloody fingers, I had a strange reaction. 'Thank God I will never have to play again,' I said. The fact is that dedication to one's art does involve a sort of enslavement.

The miracle of Bach has not appeared in any other art. To strip human nature until its divine attributes are made clear, to inform ordinary activities with spiritual fervour, to give wings of eternity to that which is most ephemeral; to make divine things human and human things divine; such is Bach, the greatest and purest moment in music of all time.

What do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?

Don't play the notes. Play the meaning of the notes.

Beauty is all about us, but how many are blind! They look at the wonder of this earth and seem to see nothing. People move hectically but give little thought to where they are going. They seek excitement...as if they were lost and desperate.

It takes courage for people to listen to their own goodness and act on it.

To be a musician is a great privilege but it is also a very great responsibility. One must think that to be a musician is a gift - a gift from Nature. There is no great merit in us except in loving this gift with respect and devotion and doing everything possible to honor that gift by work and more work. We must work with conviction and humility, searching for beauty, simplicity, and the Truth. And it is for us musicians to do all in our power for a better world. Music must carry the message of beauty, of love and of peace.

I don't have hobbies. I have passions.

The simplest things in music are the ones that count. The simplest thing are, of course, also the most difficult to achieve and take years of work.

I am a very simple man. I am a man first, an artist second. My first obligation is to the welfare of my fellow man. I will endeavour to meet this obligation through music, since it transcends language, politics and national boundaries.

The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the...