When you play, do not trouble yourself as to who is listening. Yet always play as though a master listened to you.

We shouldn't repeat the same for ages on end, but look into the new as well.

Confidence and courage are special skills to the art ... Within the four walls of his study, the artist should be modest, work diligently and conscientiously. While for the public, he'll show himself audacious, yes even into cheerful boldness. And so a new public's darling has arisen.

We may be sure that a genius like Mozart, were he born today, would write concertos like Chopin and not like Mozart.

My indifference to money and my spendthrift ways are disgraceful. You have no idea how reckless I am; how often I practically throw money out of the window. I am always making good resolutions, but the next minute I forget and give the waiter eightpence.

I feel so entirely in my element with a full orchestra; even if my mortal enemies were marshalled before me, I could lead them, master them, surround them, or repulse them.

That first concept is alway the most naturally and best. The mind errs, the emotion never.