"La vie même de Herbert von Karajan est un roman: petit aristocrate salzbourgeois devenu enfant prodige; étudiant viennois bûcheur acharné; chef d'orchestre de province pour qui seule compte la musique."

"Herbert von Karajan always rolled out a magic carpet for us, the singers. With him, our musical work took on another dimension."

"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."

"Tradition ist nicht die Anbetung der Asche, sondern die Weitergabe des Feuers."

"For a month now I have been an out-and-out vegetarian. The moral effect of this way of life, with its voluntary castigation of the body, causing one's material needs to dwindle away, is enormous. You can judge for yourself how utterly I [am] convinced of it, when I tell you that I expect of it no less than the regeneration of humanity. All I can tell you is: let yourself be converted to a natural way of living, but one in which you eat suitable food (compost-grown, stone-ground, wholemeal bread) and soon you will see the fruits of your endeavours."

"It really lives up to its name, doesn't it? Mahler's 4th Symphony."

"Ich weiß für mich, daß ich, solang ich mein Erlebnis in Worten zusammenfassen kann, gewiß keine Musik hierüber machen würde."