It is when I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer.....that ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and how they come, I know not, nor can I force them.

If people could see into my heart, I should almost feel ashamed - all there is cold, cold as ice.

I should like to know for what reason idleness is so popular with many young people that it is impossible to dissuade them from it either by words or by chastisements.

I am not thoughtless but am prepared for anything and as a result can wait patiently for whatever the future holds in store, and I'll be able to endure it.

Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.

Now there is music from which a man can learn something.

I love it when an aria fits a singer as perfectly as a suit of well-tailored clothes.