To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist..

Music - so different from painting - is the art which we enjoy most in company with others. A symphony, presented in a room with one other listener, ….

You should neither play bad compositions, nor, unless compelled, listen to them..

The flame that is naturally clear always gives the most light and heat. If I could blend my talent for poetry and music into one, the light would bur….

Confidence and courage are special skills to the art ... Within the four walls of his study, the artist should be modest, work diligently and conscie….

Mendelssohn I consider the first musician of the day; I doff my hat to him as my superior. He plays with everything, especially with the grouping of ….

Can that which has cost the artist days, weeks, months and even years of reflection be understood in a flash by a dilettante?.

Thus it is ever in life. The aims we once pursued no longer satisfy us; we aim, we strive, we aspire, until sight fails, and mind and body find rest ….

I feel so entirely in my element with a full orchestra; even if my mortal enemies were marshalled before me, I could lead them, master them, surround….

Music induces nightingales to sing, pug dogs to yelp..

When you play, do not trouble yourself as to who is listening. Yet always play as though a master listened to you..

Art was not created as a way to riches. Strive to become a true artist; all else will take care of itself..

For me Wagner is impossible... he talks without ever stopping. One can't just talk all the time..

That first concept is alway the most naturally and best. The mind errs, the emotion never..

Let your intimate friends be chosen from such as are better informed than yourself..

My whole life has been a twenty years struggle between poetry and prose, or, if you like to call it so, Music and Law..

Endeavour to play easy pieces well and with elegance; that is better than to play difficult pieces badly..

The principal mark of genius is not perfection, but originality..

Music owes as much to Bach as religion to its founder..

You will be most readily cured of vanity or presumption by studying the history of music, and by hearing the master pieces which have been produced a….

Only when the form grows clear to you, will the spirit become so too..