Our riches, being in our brains, die with us... Unless of course someone chops off our head, in which case, we won't need them anyway.

My fatherland has always the first claim on me.

Our riches, being in our brains, die with us... Unless of course someone chops off our head, in which case, we won't need them anyway.

Nevertheless the passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of causing disgust; and music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music.

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.

Music is my life and my life is music.

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.