The Reichert Study No.2 is the best exercise to practice vibrato.
I don’t want you to play this study (Andersen Op.15 No.3) like (he mentions a famous player) because (tapping his head) he is empty.
When you can’t give more crescendo, give accent instead.
Arthur Honegger looked at a composition from a student, and said to him: ‘If you built a bicycle like this you would break your nose’.
When you make a mistake, always begin again the WHOLE sentence.
If you have a bad day with your flute, put it to bed - and go to bed yourself.
Alors! You have a gold embouchure? Yes? I want the tone the same.  
 Don’t change the colour in a phrase just because it is easy.
William Bennett’s comment: ‘Amazing how much Moyse’ tone sounds at the other end of the Church’.  Moyse, though sounding small close to, has a full tone and great carrying quality when heard from a distance. To check this, I got up from my chair and went to the other end of the church to listen to him. Moyse’ tone carried beautifully: the student’s playing sounded louder close to him, but his tone didn’t carry to the back of the church.
I never practice the high register. It makes my lips too tense and so I practice the low register and later in the day, I am able to play in the high register without effort.
To a man who had poor breathing: I don’t care about your breathing – I can do nothing about it. We don’t practice your chest here, but the flute.
As well as improving a student’s ability to play a piece with a good interpretation, Moyse sharpens the student’s ability to look at himself.
When you teach, it is better to play the study to the student so that he will not make too many mistakes which are difficult to correct later.
When a composer is interested in a particular note, he  adds a grace note.
Don’t use harmonics unless you have to, otherwise you have to tell your audience, ‘My pitch is so flat because I am using harmonics’.
Tulou taught Dorus who taught Taffanel who taught me.
I would like to leave behind a tradition for all flute players: a respect for the music.
I admire Taffanel above all players. He was a great player, a great musician and a great man. I never play like Taffanel but I always try. When I play, I think of Taffanel sitting beside me. People ask me, ‘Why if you like Taffanel so much, why don’t you play like him’? I try, but I can’t.  
 You have only to learn the flute with your ear and your brain, NOT your tongue, lips and fingers.
The accent of the syncope (syncopation) is not my rule; it is the rule of life.
I practised the Beethoven Violin Concerto for 6 months to find out what it is possible to do on the flute after hearing the great violinist, Fritz Kreisler play it.
 You need to practice the breathing as you practice the notes.
Your playing of this piece is like you are drawing on wet cigarette paper.
 You must have bought that F# in a five-cent store.
When I was young, I was not well and used to get up at 5am every morning to go for a long cycle ride. After an hour or more, I would stop at an auberge for a glass of beer and some cheese. One morning I remember very well, I stopped at an auberge, opened the door and the room was in dark shadow all but for a beam of sunlight coming from one of the shuttered windows. I was in no hurry for my beer and the owner, a blacksmith, was hammering in the back yard, so I didn’t shout for him. I just sat and listened to the sound of the large grandfather clock in the corner slowly ticking – each second ticking away a small piece of eternity. This picture I always think about when I play the Largo e Dolce in the Bach B minor Sonata.
To a girl who played the wrong rhythm time and time again: he explained and then asked, ‘Do you understand?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ and played it wrongly again. Moyse said,  I want the last note shorter. NO! Excuse me. The MUSIC wants the last note shorter!     
 To a boy who played a 6/8 movement of Bach badly: You sound as though you are sick. If a young pretty girl said to you, ‘Do you love me?’ and you replied, ‘Er…yeah’.  She would not believe you. I don’t believe you when you play the flute!
 The A major Sonata of Bach: I have never played this music at a concert. I regret it. I have never practised this piece. I know what is in it and how to teach someone, but it has never appealed to me to play it as I do not like it so much.
To a young man: It is possible that you have not the character and personality to play Bach but I will at least make you play it correctly.


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