To compose is to remember music that has never been written.

Let your intimate friends be chosen from such as are better informed than yourself.

Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm.

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.

People compose for many reasons, to become immortal; because the piano happens to be open; because they want to become a millionaire; because of the praise of friends; because they have looked into a pair of beautiful eyes; or for no reason whatsoever.

Mendelssohn I consider the first musician of the day; I doff my hat to him as my superior. He plays with everything, especially with the grouping of the instruments in the orchestra, but with such ease, delicacy and art, with such mastery throughout.

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