Simon Rattle

“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.'”

“Germans have an understanding of history and cannot allow themselves to forget it. It may be a curse, but in some ways, it's a blessing. It makes them cautious.”

“As a nation, we English tend to be self-deprecating, looking down on ourselves. We're insular but also flexible, whereas in Germany, it's a case of besser wissen - we know better. That's very Deutsch. People are never frightened to tell you what you're doing wrong, in a way that would never happen in England.”

“Sometimes, musicians worry too much about how beautifully they are playing.”

“I was a harpsichordist in my teens, and there was a bunch of us in Liverpool who got together every week to play Bach.”

“In my mid-twenties, I was with a conducting career, but I had never been to university and I wanted to. There were things I wanted to study in depth. I also wanted to see if I could survive without music.”

“Conductors start getting good when everybody else retires.”

“I was thrilled that Sadiq Khan was so in support of the idea of culture being at the centre of a city and the idea that it is everyone's right. It can't be a matter of privilege or chance. It should be something everyone can have in their life, and that means knowing what it is.”

“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.”

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

“What really counts isn't whether your instrument is Baroque or modern: it's your mindset.”

“My worst and best qualities are rashness: the good part of it is due to youth, which is, of course, why I'm not a great conductor.”

“If you think the music business is the be-all and end-all of life, you're in big trouble.”

“As a Liverpool boy, it is impossible not to think of the Beatles' question, 'Will you still need me when I'm 64?'”

“Oh Lord... I don't really do pride.”

“Learning music is a birthright. And you have to start young.”

“I've always had a profound conviction that great music is about joy, even in the face of tragedy.”