Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.

Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person can not cook a clean soup.

She was such a good loving mother, my best friend. Oh, who was happier than I when I could still say the dear name "Mother," and it was heard, and whom can I say it to now?

To play without passion is inexcusable!

Applaud my friends, the comedy is over... [on his death bed]

From the glow of enthusiasm I let the melody escape. I pursue it. Breathless I catch up with it. It flies again, it disappears, it plunges into a chaos of diverse emotions. I catch it again, I seize it, I embrace it with delight... I multiply it by modulations, and at last I triumph in the first theme. There is the whole symphony.

A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation.