Music is an incomparably more powerful means and is a subtler language for expressing the thousand different moments of the soul's moods.

Even in the works of the greatest master, the organic sequence can fail and then a skillful join must be made.

Music is an incomparably more powerful means and is a subtler language for expressing the thousand different moments of the soul's moods.

It is already a great thing if the main ideas and general outline of a work come without any racking of brains, as the result of that supernatural and inexplicable force we call inspiration.

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

How can one express the indefinable sensations that one experiences while writing an instrumental composition that has no definite subject? It is a purely lyrical process. It is a musical confession of the soul, which unburdens itself through sounds just as a lyric poet expresses himself through poetry...As the poet Heine said, 'Where words leave off, music begins.'

The creative process is like music which takes root with extraordinary force and rapidity