A man is not necessarily a master because he happened to compose two or three centuries ago. Let us beware of the worship of mere antiquity.

A man is not necessarily a master because he happened to compose two or three centuries ago. Let us beware of the worship of mere antiquity.

Is there anything more true than human pain? Is there anything more sincere than the cry for help from those who suffer? Only a great wave of mankind's pity can surmount an immense wave of human misery?

Music expresses first of all sadness rather than joy.

If I don't practise for one day, I know it; if I don't practise for two days, the critics knows it; if I don't practise for three days, the audience knows it.

Rhythm is the pulse of music.

I am nothing! If you could know the dream of what I would like to be, you would realize how little I have accomplished.