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

Of all composers, past and present, I am the least learned. I mean that in all seriousness, and by learning I do not mean knowledge of music.

Oh, you happy sons of the North who have been reared at the bosom of Bach, how I envy you!

It is better to invert reality than to copy it.

I have striven for perfection, it has always eluded me, but I surely had an obligation to make one more try.

I order that my funeral ceremonies be extremely modest, and that they take place at dawn or at the evening Ave Maria, without song or music.

I adore art...when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.