Debussy was behind me when we played L'après-midi d'un faune because he did not want anything in his score to be changed on account of the dancing. And when we came to a forte, he said 'Monteux, that is a forte, play forte'. He did not want anything shimmering. And he wanted everything exactly in time.

Quoted in Nichols, Roger (1992). Debussy Remembered. London: Faber. ISBN 0571153577, p. 186