Works of art make rules but rules do not make works of art.

There is nothing more musical than a sunset.

In opera, there is always too much singing.

If we look at the works of JS Bach ... on each page we discover things which we thought were born only yesterday, from delightful arabesques to an overflowing of religious feeling greater than anything we have since discovered.

Music is the expression of the movement of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes.

Anyone who calls my music "impressionist" is an imbecile.

Art is the most beautiful deception of all! And although people try to incorporate the everyday events of life in it, we must hope that it will remain a deception lest it become a utilitarian thing, sad as a factory.