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

My symphonies would have reached Opus 100 if I had but written them down... Sometimes I am so full of music, and so overflowing with melody, that I find it simply impossible to write down anything.

I am so fresh in soul and spirit that life gushes and bubbles around me in a thousand springs.

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

Perhaps only a Genius can truly understand Genius.

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

If, while at the piano, you attempt to form little melodies, that is very well; but if they come into your mind of themselves, when you are not practising, you may be still more pleased; for the internal organ of music is then roused in you. The fingers must do what the head desires; not the contrary.