I will take fate by the throat; it will never bend me completely to its will.
Recommend to your children virtues, that alone can make them happy, not gold.
Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.
What is to reach the heart must come from above; if it does not come from thence, it will be nothing but notes, body without spirit.
Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.
Love demands all, and has a right to all.
Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.
Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.
Hide your secret even from the closest friend; learn to be silent...
Recommend to your children to be virtuous, only the virtue can bring us happiness, not the money.
Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.
Do you think I give a damn about your and your pathetic violin?
Life would be flat without music. It is the background to all I do. It speaks to the heart in its own special way like nothing else.
An artist is someone who has learned to trust in himself.
To play without passion is inexcusable!
It seemed unthinkable for me to leave the world forever before I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce.
I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose.
No friend have I. I must live by myself alone; but I know well that God is nearer to me than others in my art, so I will walk fearlessly with Him.