To every good friend I send my greet feet; addio nitwit. Love true true true until the grave, if I live that long and do behave.

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 guards the heart from the abyss.

My fatherland has always the first claim on me.

Handel understands effect better than any of us -- when he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt.

I cannot write in verse, for I am no poet. I cannot arrange the parts of speech with such art as to produce effects of light and shade, for I am no painter. Even by signs and gestures I cannot express my thoughts and feelings, for I am no dancer. But I can do so by means of sounds, for I am a musician.

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