To regret the past, to hope in the future, and never to be satisfied with the present: that is what I spend my whole life doing

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

Sometimes I observe with curiosity that uninterrupted activity which, independent of the subject of any conversation I may be carrying on, continues its course in that department of my brain that is devoted to music.

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.

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.

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.