What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.
Ludwig van BeethovenMusic is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.
Ludwig van BeethovenIt is my belief one should not belittle the artist; while, however glorious his fame may seem, his time on Mount Olympus as an honourable guest of Zeus is short. It's a pity, but all too eager will the common folk drag him from this etherial heights to the low and trodden earth.
Ludwig van BeethovenOne must not hold one's self so divine as to be unwilling occasionally to make improvements in one's creations.
Ludwig van BeethovenMusic is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. Although the spirit be not master of that which it creates through music, yet it is blessed in this creation, which, like every creation of art, is mightier than the artist.
Ludwig van BeethovenI carry my thoughts about with me for a long time... before writing them down... once I have grasped a theme. I shall not forget it even years later. I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied; then, in my head... [the work] rises, it grows, I hear and see the image n front of me from every angle... and only the labor of writing it down remains... I turn my ideas into tones that resound, roar, and rage until at last they stand before me in the form of notes.
Ludwig van Beethoven