When you play, never mind who listens to you.

Only when the form grows clear to you, will the spirit become so too.

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

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.

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

Send light to the dark hearts of men, that is the duty the artist.

"We liked it" or "I didn't like it" people say. As if it were nothing higher than to please the people!