I have just one fiddle. It works, and that's it. It has been an old friend.

I'm an acoustical person.

I think that music has to do with what kind of passion do you have.

I can tell you that many soloists probably wish they could sit.

A lot of people ask me, 'What is your goal now that you have done everything?' And I always say that my goal is to not be bored by what I do. The only way that I cannot be bored by what I do is if I play something and it's all new to me.

My oldest daughter is a pianist; she plays concerts. We play together, also.

When I came to the United States, I appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show as a 13-year-old, and I played a Mendelssohn Concerto, and it sounded like a talented 13-year-old with a lot of promise. But it did not sound like a finished product.

When you are 8 or 9, you should have a childhood. You should have adolescence. You should go through everything in a normal way.

Another thing that I don't like to do is show too much how it goes. I do it once in a blue moon. Sometimes there are lessons when I don't pick up a violin at all.

For people who are really talented, what you don't say becomes extremely important. You have to judge what to say and what to leave alone so you can let the talent develop.

I'm now doing three things: concerts, conducting, and teaching, and they each support each other. I learn to see things from different perspectives and listen with different ears. The most important thing that you need to do is really listen.

One of the most important elements in teaching, conducting, and performing, all three, is listening.

This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in five or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development.

The most important thing to do is really listen.

Preparing for a future in music is an expensive proposition.

I look at raising funds for The Perlman Music Program as a challenge and as a way to provide opportunities for people who care about the future of classical music.

That makes classical music work, the ability to improvise.

Child prodigy is a curse because you've got all those terrible possibilities.

Sometimes you get from the mouth of kids wonderful things.

When you play a concerto with a small orchestra, you don't feel it is as important as Carnegie Hall. You try to work out all the little problems. Once that's all done, trust comes in.

In Paris they have special wheelchairs that go through every doorway. They don't change the doorways, they change the wheelchairs. To hell with the people! If someone weighs a couple more pounds, that's it!

Competition can be the most nerve-racking experience. Some people just thrive on it.

There are people who are uncanny, who are finished products at a young age. I wasn't, thank God.

I listen to kids play a lot.