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

I have put my whole soul into this work [The Pathetique Symphony] . . . You cannot imagine what joy I feel at the thought that my days are not yet over and that I may still accomplish much.

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.

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

Only music clarifies, reconciles, and consoles. But it is not a straw just barely clutched at. It is a faithful friend, protector, and comforter, and for its sake alone, life in this world is worth living. Who knows, perhaps in heaven there will be no music. So let us live on the earth while we still have life!

Mozart is the highest, the culminating point that beauty has attained in the sphere of music.

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