I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose.

One must not hold one's self so divine as to be unwilling occasionally to make improvements in one's creations.

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

If I contemplate myself as part of the Universe: what am I?

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?

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

Yet it was impossible for me to say to people, 'Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf.' Ah, how could I possibly admit an infirmity in the one sense which ought to be more perfect in me than others, a sense which I once possessed in the highest perfection, a perfection such as few in my profession enjoy or ever have enjoyed.