I can live only wholly with you or not at all.

The guitar is an orchestra in itself.

Applaud my friends, the comedy is over... [on his death bed]

Richard Wagner commenting on the music of Ludvig Van Beethoven: He was a Titan, wrestling with the Gods.

Don't regard yourself as too divine to improve, occasionally, your own works.

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.

I can live only wholly with you or not at all.