Why hurry over beautiful things? Why not linger and enjoy them?
My imagination can picture no fairer happiness than to continue living for art.
I do not want horses or diamonds - I am happy in possessing you.
I wish to lead a life free from care, and I see that I shall be unhappy if I cannot always work at my art.
There is nothing greater than the joy of composing something oneself and then listening to it.
My health may be better preserved if I exert myself less, but in the end doesn't each person give his life for his calling?
If I have known much trouble in my youth, I have also known much joy.
The tea is ice-cold, the room grows colder and colder, but I grow warmer and warmer.
I cannot give a single concert at which I do not play one piece after the other in an agony of terror because my memory threatens to fail me. This fear torments me for days beforehand.
Treasures are no longer to be got by instrumental art.
Is an artist much more than a beggar?
I cannot be so bad when everybody is so fond of me.
Every man has his faults; I have and so have you - you will allow me to say so!
