It is better to invert reality than to copy it.

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.

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

It is better to invert reality than to copy it.

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.

Stupid criticism and still more stupid praise.

I deny that either singers or conductors can "create" or work creatively - this, as I have always said, is a conception that leads to the abyss.