Brahms stayed an extra day to hear my [Fifth] Symphony and was very kind ... I like his honesty and open-mindedness. Neither he nor the players liked the finale, which I also think rather horrible.

If that condition of mind and soul, which we call inspiration, lasted long without intermission, no artist could survive it. The strings would break and the instrument be shattered into fragments.

Music possesses much richer means of expression and it is a more subtle medium for translating the 1000 shifting moments of the feelings of the soul.

Mozart is the musical Christ.

A self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood.

The muse doesn't come without being called.

Handel is only fourth rate. He's not even interesting.