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

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.

Remember, there are more people in the world than yourself. Be modest! You have not yet invented nor thought anything which others have not thought or invented before. And should you really have done so, consider it a gift of heaven which you are to share with others.

I was a God-fearing child, innocent and physically attractive.

My heart pounds sickeningly and I turn pale... I often feel as if I were dead... I seem to be losing my mind.

When young, one learns his craftsmanship, may become a young master, and it is youth that is most auspicious for developing certain skills.

From a pound of iron, that costs little, a thousand watch-springs can be made, whose value becomes prodigious. The pound you have received from the Lord,--use it faithfully.