Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. Oh how harshly was I flung back by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing.

I want to seize fate by the throat.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

Handel is the greatest composer that ever lived... I would uncover my head and kneel down on his tomb.

After Rossini dies, who will be there to promote his music?

It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer.

I haven't a single friend; I must live alone. But well I know that God is nearer to me than to the others of my art; I associate with Him without fear, I have always recognized and understood Him, and I have no fear for my music,-it can meet no evil fate. Those who understand it must become free from all the miseries that the others drag with them.