The supreme harmony of the cosmos is selected in the harmony of the spirit.

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.

I am not fond of speaking about politics because I don't have in my possession an army of 200,000 soldiers.

We need improvement in the style of performance. There is no more advantage in a musician who plays and conducts than in one who is only a beater of rhythm.

The day will come when all nations amidst which the Jews are dwelling will have to raise the question of their wholesale expulsion, a question which will be one of life or death, good health or chronic disease, peaceful existence or perpetual social fever.

My sole ambition as a composer is to hurl my javelin into the infinite space of the future.

Real men are sadly lacking in this world, for when they are put to the test they prove worthless.