To copy the truth can be a good thing, but to invent the truth is better, much better.

The success of our operas rests most of the time in the hands of the conductor. This person is as necessary as a tenor or a prima donna.

It is better to invert reality than to copy it.

Through care taken over trends, the desire to be novel and affectation knowledge, we repudiate our art, our instinct, our own way of doing things; it is absurd and stupid

The artist must yield himself to his own inspiraton, and if he has a true talent, no one knows and feels better than he what suits him.

You may have the universe if I may have Italy.

It may be a good thing to copy reality; but to invent reality is much, much better.