Thus it is ever in life. The aims we once pursued no longer satisfy us; we aim, we strive, we aspire, until sight fails, and mind and body find rest in the grave.

Endeavour to play easy pieces well and with elegance; that is better than to play difficult pieces badly.

Only when the form grows clear to you, will the spirit become so too.

In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of.

We have learned to express the more delicate nuances of feeling by penetrating more deeply into the mysteries of harmony.

Music owes as much to Bach as religion to its founder.

For me Wagner is impossible... he talks without ever stopping. One can't just talk all the time.