Quotes from Simon Rattle

Always the journey, never the destination.

We need to bring music to the people, even to those who normally do not listen to classical music.

American economists can't understand the German fear of inflation and the effects of inflation when dealing with the world economic crisis. They wonder why Germany pursues such a different course - 'Why can't they agree with us?' I would have thought it was fairly obvious.

I think Beethoven means dissonances to be more stressed than consonances - it's the shock tactician in him.

If you receive a whole string of bad reviews, you have to say, 'O.K., maybe there's something here we should pay attention to.'

There is a mysterious way in which orchestras keep a sense of their history and what they've done. I still listen to the L.A. Philharmonic and feel that Giulini was there.

The better the orchestra, often the harder it is to conduct, not the other way around.

Conductors make too much fuss about conductors! Humility and hard work are virtues. We're nothing without our musicians.

You don't like Liverpool: you either loathe it or you love it. And I don't know anyone who loathes it and comes from it.