Our mistake, you see, was to write interminable large operas, which had to fill an entire evening. And now along comes someone with a one or two-act opera without all that pompous nonsense - that was a happy reform.

Oh blessed a thousand times the peasant who is born, eats and dies without anybody bothering about his affairs.

The artist must yield himself to his own inspiration... I should compose with utter confidence a subject that set my musical blood going, even though it were condemned by all other artists as anti-musical.

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.

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.

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.