But music, don't you know, is a dream from which the veils have been lifted. It's not even the expression of a feeling, it's the feeling itself.

People don't very much like things that are beautiful - they are so far from their nasty little minds.

First of all, ladies and gentlemen, you must forget that you are singers.

The trouble with the opera is there's always to much singing.

Do not allow the accents in the brass to produce space between the notes.

Inspiration and ideas only come to me when I have not had a woman in a very long time... Ballads, polonaises, even a whole concerto may have been lost forever up your des durka, I can't tell you how many. I have been so deeply engulfed in my love for you I have hardly created anything.

Beauty seems to strike some people as a personal affront.