Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties.

Vienna is a handsome, lively city, and pleases me exceedingly.

The three most celebrated doctors on the island have been to see me. One sniffed at what I spat, the second tapped where I spat from, and the third sounded me and listened as I spat. The first said I was dead, the second that I was dying and the third that I'm going to die.

Bach is like an astronomer who, with the help of ciphers, finds the most wonderful stars.

Time is the best of critics; and patience the best of teachers.

After a rest in Edinburgh, where, passing a music-shop, I heard some blind man playing a mazurka of mine.

I really don't know whether any place contains more pianists than Paris, or whether you can find more asses and virtuosos anywhere.