I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son (W A Mozart)is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition.

I would give my best quartet for a good razor.

Young people can learn from my example that something can come from nothing. What I have become is the result of my hard efforts.

Mozart is the incarnation of music.

It is the melody which is the charm of music, and it is that which is most difficult to produce. The invention of a fine melody is a work of genius.

I was for some time quite beside myself and could not believe that Providence could have required the presence of this indispensable man in the other world so soon.

The life's story of great geniuses is a sad one, without much tangible reward, which does not inspire future generations to face a similar fate. Alas also, it stands to reason why so many talent will not come to sparkle on the artistic firmanent.