Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.

I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment... rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood.

Companions, in misery and worse, that is what we all are, and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.

When you write the story of two happy lovers, let the story be set on the banks of Lake Como.

It is my fervent wish and my greatest ambition to leave a work with a few useful instructions for the pianists after me.

Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.

My mind and fingers have worked like the damned. Homer, the Bible, Plato, Locke, Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Beethoven, Bach, Hummel, Mozart, Weber are all around me. I study them. I devour them with fury.