Pablo Casals Quotes
You must work - we must all work to make the world worthy of its children.
Casals, Pablo, and Albert E. Kahn. Joys and Sorrows: Reflections by Pablo Casals as Told to Albert E. Kahn. Simon and Schuster, 1970, p. 295.
Normally, this would not be a particularly noteworthy quotation. However, at the time the Republican Party had shifted far to the right–more so than at any other time since its inception. The primary election he was in brought out the most right wing members of the party, which was for gutting the social safety net, did not see health care as a right, and even wanted to terminate Obamacare and Social Security as it existed. Yet when asked in a nationwide TV interview, what the government should do for the poor and destitute who could not afford health care or other necessities. His courageous answer and position doomed his bid for the presidential nomination.
Pau Casals i Defilló, usually known in English by his Spanish name Pablo Casals, was a Spanish (Catalan) and Puerto Rican cellist, composer, and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century and one of the greatest cellists of all time. He made many recordings throughout his career of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, including some as conductor, but he is perhaps best remembered for the recordings of the Bach Cello Suites he made from 1936 to 1939. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy (though the ceremony was presided over by Lyndon B. Johnson).
