The principal mark of genius is not perfection, but originality.

You will be most readily cured of vanity or presumption by studying the history of music, and by hearing the master pieces which have been produced at different periods.

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

That first concept is alway the most naturally and best. The mind errs, the emotion never.

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.

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

I feel so entirely in my element with a full orchestra; even if my mortal enemies were marshalled before me, I could lead them, master them, surround them, or repulse them.