Madam, you ask me how I compose. I compose sitting down.

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The muse doesn't come without being called.

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

To regret the past, to hope in the future, and never to be satisfied with the present: that is what I spend my whole life doing

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Truly there would be reason to go mad were it not for music.

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Where the heart does not enter; there can be no music.

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Sometimes I observe with curiosity that uninterrupted activity which, independent of the subject of any conversation I may be carrying on, continues …

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Only music clarifies, reconciles, and consoles. But it is not a straw just barely clutched at. It is a faithful friend, protector, and comforter, and…

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

If that condition of mind and soul, which we call inspiration, lasted long without intermission, no artist could survive it. The strings would break …

- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky