Herbert von Karajan quotes:

No music is vulgar, unless it is played in a way that makes it so.

Quick music sounds dull unless every note is articulated.

He who reaches all his goals has probably not chosen them high enough.

I have often said to the orchestra, especially to the younger players, 'Do your best, and love what you are doing, because you are allowed to do this thing.' By this I mean, they can do what millions of people cannot do. Many people cannot think of playing music or listening to it until six o'clock in the evening. To be involved professionally in a thing as creative as this is a great privilege and we have a duty to make it in such a way that we can help bring pleasure and a sense of fulfillment to those who are not so fortunate.

If I tell the Berliners to step forward, they do it. If I tell the Viennese to step forward, they do it, but then they ask why.

In our profession someone can be very brilliant and acquire total technical mastery. Yet in the last resort, the only thing that really counts is his quality as a human being. For music is created by Man for Man. And if someone sees nothing more than notes in it, this can perhaps be very interesting, but it cannot enrich him. And music should exist for one purpose only; to enrich Man and give him something he has lost in most respects.

The art of conducting consists in knowing when to stop conducting to let the orchestra play.

Those who have achieved all their aims probably set them too low