If only the whole world could feel the power of harmony.

Music, in even the most terrible situations, must never offend the ear but always remain a source of pleasure.

To win applause one must write stuff so simple that a coachman might sing it.

I too had to work hard, so as not to have to work hard any longer.

You know that I become quite powerless whenever I am obliged to write for an instrument which I cannot bear.

I never lie down at night without reflecting that, young as I am, I may not live to see another day.

I will gladly give lessons as a favor, particularly when I see that my student has talent, inclination, and anxiety to learn; but to be obliged to go to a house at a certain hour, or to have to wait at home for a pupil, is what I cannot do, no matter how much money it may bring me in. . . I am a composer and was born to be a Kapellmeister. I neither can nor ought to bury the talent for composition with which God in his goodness has so richly endowed me. . .