In the country It seems as if every tree Said to me 'Holy! Holy!' Who can ever express The ecstasy of the woods! Almighty One, In the woods I am blessed. Happy every one in the woods. Every tree speaks through Thee. O God! What glory in the woodland.

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

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.

Händel is the greatest and ablest of all composers; from him I can still learn.

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

Only the flint of a man's mind can strike fire in music.

I 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.