The longer you live and the more you learn, the more clearly you will feel the difference between the few men who are truly great and the mere virtuosi.
Beauty and fullness of tone can be achieved by having the whole orchestra play with high clarinets and a carefully selected number of piccolos.
The impressions of the spriritual experiences gave my future life its form and content.
The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause.
The call of love sounds very hollow among these immobile rocks.
Melodic invention is one of the surest signs of a divine gift.
All that is not perfect down to the smallest detail is doomed to perish.
When I have reached a summit, I leave it with great reluctance, unless it is to reach for another, higher one.
If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster.
Destiny smiles upon me but without making me the least bit happier.
If I weren't the way I am, I shouldn't write my symphonies.
A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.
In the theatrical works we love and admire the most, the ending of the drama generally takes place offstage.
