Nothing is more beautiful than a guitar, except, possibly two.
Oh, how miserable it is to have no one to share your sorrows and joys, and, when your heart is heavy, to have no soul to whom you can pour out your woes.
Sometimes I can only groan, and suffer, and pour out my despair at the piano.
The Official Bulletin declared that the Poles should be as proud of me as the Germans are of Mozart; obvious nonsense.
The last thing is simplicity. After having gone through all the difficulties, having played an endless number of notes, it is simplicity that matters, with all its charm. It is the final seal on Art. Anyone who strives for this to begin with will be disappointed. You cannot begin at the end.
I really don’t know whether any place contains more pianists than Paris, or whether you can find more asses and virtuosos anywhere.
I’m a revolutionary, money means nothing to me.
When one does a thing, it appears good, otherwise one would not write it. Only later comes reflection, and one discards or accepts the thing. Time is the best censor, and patience a most excellent teacher.
Simplicity is the final achievement.
I don’t know how it is, but the Germans are amazed at me and I am amazed at them for finding anything to be amazed about.
They want me to give another concert but I have no desire to do so. You cannot imagine what a torture the three days before a public appearance are to me.
It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to. You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you.
If I were still stupider than I am, I should think myself at the apex of my career; yet I know how much I still lack, to reach perfection; I see it the more clearly now that I live only among first-rank artists and know what each one of them lacks.
After a rest in Edinburgh, where, passing a music-shop, I heard some blind man playing a mazurka of mine...
I wish I could throw off the thoughts which poison my happiness, and yet I take a kind of pleasure in indulging them.
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on.
There are certain times when I feel more inspired, filled with a strong power that forces me to listen to my inner voice, and when I feel more need than ever for a Pleyel piano.
A long time ago I decided that my universe will be the soul and heart of man.
You already know when I’m writing, so don’t be surprised if it’s short and dry, because I’m too hungry to write anything fat.
I am not fitted to give concerts. The audience intimidates me, I feel choked by its breath, paralyzed by its curious glances, struck dumb by all those strange faces.