We cling nervously to the melody, but we don't handle it freely, we don't really make anything new out of it, we merely overload it.

The fact that most people do not understand and respect the very best things, such as Mozart's concertos, is what permits men like us to become famous.

In him converge all previous streams of tendency, not as into a pool, stagnant, passive, motionless, but as a noble river that received its tributary waters and bearss them onward in larger and statelier volume.

It is not hard to compose but it is wonderfully hard to let the superfluous notes fall under the table. . . So many melodies fly about, one must be careful not to tread on them.

The only true immortality lies in one's children.

My things really are written with an appalling lack of practicality!

If we cannot write with the beauty of Mozart, let us at least try to write with his purity.