Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.

Off with you! You're a happy fellow, for you'll give happiness and joy to many other people. There is nothing better or greater than that!

Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.

Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup.

What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.

Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.

Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.

Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold.

Music is mediator between spiritual and sensual life.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears form the eyes of woman.

Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.

Recommend virtue to your children; it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience.

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, "Thus far and no farther."

A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation.

This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble.

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?

Friends applaud, the comedy is over.

A true artist is expected to be all that is noble-minded, and this is not altogether a mistake; on the other hand, however, in what a mean way are critics allowed to pounce upon us.

Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.

I joyfully hasten to meet death. If it come before I have had opportunity to develop all my artistic faculties, it will come, my hard fate notwithstanding, too soon, and I should probably wish it later - yet even then I shall be happy, for will it not deliver me from a state of endless suffering?

I must confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years, I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people, 'I am deaf.' If I had any other profession, I might be able to cope with my infirmity; but in my profession, it is a terrible handicap.

I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.

Music from my fourth year began to be the first of my youthful occupations. Thus early acquainted with the gracious muse who tuned my soul to pure harmonies, I became fond of her, and, as it often seemed to me, she of me.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

O, you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you, and I would have ended my life - it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, 'Thus far and no farther.'

The true artist is not proud: he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and though he may be admired by others, he is sad not to have reached that point to which his better genius only appears as a distant, guiding sun.

When somewhat at a distance, I cannot hear the high tones of instruments, voices. In speaking, it is not surprising that there are people who have never noticed it, for as a rule I am absent-minded, and they account for it in that way.

Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart and such a person can not cook a clean soup.

I will seize fate by the throat it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.

The guitar is a miniature orchestra in itself.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosphy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.

Music is ... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy.

Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours.

The French are the wittiest, the most charming, and up to the present, at all events, the least musical race on Earth.

My life has been a continuous fulfillment of dreams. It appears that everything I saw and did has a new, and perhaps, more significant meaning, every time I see it. The earth is good. It is a privilege to live thereon.

I believe as human beings we are out of balance, out of synch with the earth.

We are put on this earth to have a good time. This makes other people feel good. And the cycle continues.

All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.

Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.

You know, if you hang around this earth long enough you really see how things come full circle.

With a firm and steadfast mind one should hold under all conditions, that everywhere the earth is below and the sky above, and to the energetic man, every region is his fatherland.

A time will come when men will stretch out their eyes. They should see planets like our Earth.

When I say artist I mean the man who is building things - creating molding the earth - whether it be the plains of the west - or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction - some with a brush - some with a shovel - some choose a pen.