“I'll tell you a little secret about the Blues: it's not enough to know which notes to play, you have to know why they need to be played.”

“There are ten rules of business that you need to know... You have to play to win, but you need to win to play... I'll give you the other nine after lunch.”

“I want you to tell me why you have a pair of broken angel wings on your shoulder. I want you to tell me why you cut your wrists and I want to know why and how you play and sing the way you do, but most of all I want you to tell me what I need to do to be a good enough man for you.”

“When you don't know enough about life to know what you might have missed out on, your imagination plays wicked tricks on you.”

“But you play that passage like it's the -memory- of love. You're so young, yet you know desertion, abandonment. That's why you play that third movement the way you do. Most cellists, they play it with joy. But for you, it's not about joy, it's about the memory of a joyful time that's gone for ever.”

“We all have our harps to play. And it's up to you now to know with which ear you'll listen.”