Ludwig van Beethoven Quotes

We mortals with immortal minds are only born for sufferings and joys, and one could almost say that the most excellent receive joy through sufferings.

I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.

What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.

When I open my eyes I must sigh, for what I see is contrary to my religion, and I must despise the world which does not know that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

In whatsoever manner it be, let me turn to God and become fruitful in good works. Nothing higher exists than to approach God more than other people and from that to extend His glory among humanity.I will place all my confidence in your eternal goodness, O God! My soul shall rejoice in Thee, immutable Being. Be my rock, my light, forever my trust.

The guitar is an orchestra in itself.

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

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

I alter some things, eliminate and try again until I am satisfied. Then begins the mental working out of this material in its breadth, its narrowness, its height and depth.

I know no other sign of superiority than Goodness.

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

Music is like a dream. One that I cannot hear.

I want to seize fate by the throat.

Only art and science can raise men to the level of God.

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

I know of no more sacred duty than to rear and educate a child.

This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble.

There is no loftier mission than to approach the Divinity nearer than other men, and to disseminate the divine rays among mankind.

Only art and science make us suspect the existence of life to a higher level, and maybe also instill hope thereof.

Then let us all do what is right, strive with all our might toward the unattainable, develop as fully as we can the gifts God has given us, and never stop learning

This is not a brook [Bach means "brook" in German], it's an ocean.

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.

The foundation of friendship demands the greatest likeness of human souls and hearts.

I haven't a single friend; I must live alone. But well I know that God is nearer to me than to the others of my art; I associate with Him without fear, I have always recognized and understood Him, and I have no fear for my music,-it can meet no evil fate. Those who understand it must become free from all the miseries that the others drag with them.

I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied; then, in my head, I being to elaborate the work in its breadth, its narrowness, its height, its depth...I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle as if it had been cast and only the labour of writing it down remains.

It is my belief one should not belittle the artist; while, however glorious his fame may seem, his time on Mount Olympus as an honourable guest of Zeus is short. It's a pity, but all too eager will the common folk drag him from this etherial heights to the low and trodden earth.

Music is the mediator between the life of the senses and the life of the spirit.

What is to reach the heart must come from above; if it does not come from thence, it will be nothing but notes, body without spirit.

Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. Oh how harshly was I flung back by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing.

The Music is the only corporeal introduction to the superior world of Knowledge.

Strange, I feel as if up to now I had written no more than a few notes.

There is no loftier mission than to approach the Godhead more nearly than other mortals, and by means of that contact to spread the rays of the Godhead through the human race.