Quotes from Pablo Casals

To retire is to begin to die.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

To retire is to die.

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.

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

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

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

Resist doing things that have no meaning for life.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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