I sit down to the piano regularly at nine-o'clock in the morning and Mesdames les Muses have learned to be on time for that rendezvous.

Madam, you ask me how I compose. I compose sitting down.

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.

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.

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

Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.