I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.

Genius ... is necessarily intolerant of fetters.

More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.

It so often happens that others are measuring us by our past self while we are looking back on that self with a mixture of disgust and sorrow.

The best travel is that which one can take by one's own fireside. In memory or imagination.

There's no disappointment in memory, and one's exaggerations are always on the good side.

Net the large fish and you are sure to have the small fry.