I haven't heard anything so great for a long time; Beethoven snaps his fingers at the whole world.

Nothing is more odious than music without hidden meaning.

Bach is like an astronomer who, with the help of ciphers, finds the most wonderful stars . . . Beethoven embraced the universe with the power of his spirit . . . I do not climb so high. A long time ago I decided that my universe will be the soul and heart of man.

Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.

It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to. You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you.

My manuscripts sleep, while I cannot, for I am covered with poultices.

I wish I could throw off the thoughts which poison my happiness, but I take a kind of pleasure in indulging them.