My dream is to be played everywhere, not only at the Opera.

We should have a music of our own - if possible, without any Sauerkraut.

Experience is a form of paralysis.

I am by far your superior, but my notorious modesty prevents me from saying so.

We cannot doubt that animals both love and practice music. That is evident. But it seems their musical system differs from ours. It is another school....We are not familiar with their didactic works. Perhaps they don't have any.

I have never written a note I didn't mean.

When I was young, people used to say to me: Wait until you're fifty, you'll see. I am fifty. I haven't seen anything.