Life would be flat without music. It is the background to all I do. It speaks to the heart in its own special way like nothing else.

Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold.

Oh, how beautiful it is to be alive - would that I could live a thousand times

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, 'Thus far and no farther.'

All my life I have regarded myself as one of Mozart's greatest admirers, and I will remain one until my last breath.

I carry my thoughts about me for a long time, often a very long time, before I write them down; meanwhile my memory is so faithful that I am sure never to forget, not even in years, a theme that has once occurred to me.

Don't only practise your art, but force your way into its secrets.