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

Does it not seem as if Mozart's works become fresher and fresher the oftener we hear them?

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.

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

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.

You write to become immortal, or because the piano happens to be open, or you've looked into a pair of beautiful eyes.

Perhaps only a Genius can truly understand Genius.