Ludwig van Beethoven Quotes

What will be the judgment a century hence concerning the lorded works of our favorite composers today? Inasmuch as nearly everything is subject to the changes of time, and - more's the pity- the fashions of time, only that which is good and true will endure like a rock and no wanton hand will ever venture to defile it. Then, let every man do that which is right, strive with all his might towards the goal which can never be obtained, develop to the last breath the gifts with which the gracious Creator has endowed him, and never cease to learn. For life is short, art eternal.

To play without passion is inexcusable!

Oh continue to love me, never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved. Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours.

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

But what a humiliation for me when someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone standing next to me heard a shepherd singing and again I heard nothing. Such incidents drove me almost to despair; a little more of that and I would have ended my life - it was only my art that held me back.

I would rather write 10,000 notes than a single letter of the alphabet.

My heart is full of many things there are moments when I feel that speech is nothing after all.

The vibrations on the air are the breath of God speaking to man's soul. Music is the language of God. We musicians are as close to God as man can be. We hear his voice, we read his lips, we give birth to the children of God, who sing his praise. That's what musicians are.

From the glow of enthusiasm I let the melody escape. I pursue it. Breathless I catch up with it. It flies again, it disappears, it plunges into a chaos of diverse emotions. I catch it again, I seize it, I embrace it with delight... I multiply it by modulations, and at last I triumph in the first theme. There is the whole symphony.

You ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with certainty. They come unsummoned, directly, indirectly - I could seize them with my hands - out in the open air, in the woods, while walking, in the silence of the nights, at dawn, excited by moods which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tones that sound and roar and storm about me till I have set them down in notes.

Everything should be at once surprising and inevitable.

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.

Hide your secret even from the closest friend; learn to be silent.

Good Morning, on July 7 My thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved I can only live wholly with you or not at all- Be calm my life, my all. Only by calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together. Oh continue to love me, never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved. Ever Thine Ever Mine Ever Yours

An artist is someone who has learned to trust in himself.

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?

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.

There is no greater pleasure for me than to practice and exhibit my art.

From the glow of enthusiasm I let the melody escape.

My misfortune is doubly painful to me because it will result in my being misunderstood. For me there can be no recreation in the company of others, no intelligent conversation, no exchange of information with peers; only the most pressing needs can make me venture into society. I am obliged to live like an outcast.

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

Mistakes - mistakes - you yourself are a unique mistake!

I can do nothing but think of you... What have you done to me? Can't you remove the spell you have cast over me?

Art always demands of us something new.

Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.

There are and always will be thousands of princes, but there is only one Beethoven!

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. Although the spirit be not master of that which it creates through music, yet it is blessed in this creation, which, like every creation of art, is mightier than the artist.

A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation.

He who understand my music will remain free from the miseries that the other men are dragging with them .

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

Handel, to him I bow the knee.

I shall seize fate by the throat.

Rossini would have been a great composer if his teacher had spanked him enough on his backside.

Artists who have won fame are often embarrassed by it; thus their first works are often their best.

In the world of art, as in the whole of creation, freedom and progress are the main objectives.

Music is indeed the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

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.

I liked your opera. I think I will set it to music.

Fate gave to man the courage of endurance.

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?

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

The world is a king, and like a king, desires flattery in return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse — it will not submit to the mold of flattery.

I wish you music to help with the burdens of life ,and to help you release your happiness to others.

Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup.

What I have in my heart and soul - must find a way out. That's the reason for music.

The amount of money one needs is terrifying.

Men are not only together when they are with each other; even the distant and the dead live with us.