The taste of death is upon my lips. I feel something that is not of this earth.

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

Music must never offend the ear, but must please the listener, or, in other words, must never cease to be music.

I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.

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

I am never happier than when I have something to compose, for that, after all, is my sole delight and passion

When I am at peace with myself . . . then thoughts flow into me most easily and at their best. Where they come from and how - that I cannot say . . . I'd be willing to work forever and forever if I were permitted to write only such music as I want to write and can write - which I myself think good.