Robert Schumann Quotes

If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. therefore, respect every musician in his proper place.

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

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

Talent works, genius creates.

When you play, never mind who listens to you.

For me, music is always the language which permits one to converse with the Beyond.

Play always as if in the presence of a master.

I am so fresh in soul and spirit that life gushes and bubbles around me in a thousand springs.

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

In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of.

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

"We liked it" or "I didn't like it" people say. As if it were nothing higher than to please the people!

I sometimes lack confidence in public, although I am proud enough inwardly.

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

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

From a pound of iron, that costs little, a thousand watch-springs can be made, whose value becomes prodigious. The pound you have received from the Lord,--use it faithfully.

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

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

Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm.

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 at different periods.

You write to become immortal, or because the piano happens to be open, or you've looked into a pair of beautiful eyes.

A fiery, good beginner always stands higher than a master in mediocrity.

Perhaps only a Genius can truly understand Genius.

To compose is to remember music that has never been written.

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

Send light to the dark hearts of men, that is the duty the artist.

When young, one learns his craftsmanship, may become a young master, and it is youth that is most auspicious for developing certain skills.

Think it a vile habit to alter works of good composers, to omit parts of them, or to insert new-fashioned ornaments. This is the greatest insult you can offer to Art.

The aesthetic principle is the same in every art, only the material differs.

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 them, or repulse them.

Music induces nightingales to sing, pug dogs to yelp.

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

Without enthusiasm nothing great can be effected in art.

The poet sees better than other mortals. I do not see things as they are, but according to my own subjective impression, and this makes life easier and simpler.

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 burn still clearer, and I might go far.

We may be sure that a genius like Mozart, were he born today, would write concertos like Chopin and not like Mozart.

Believe me, were I ever to accomplish anything, it would be in music, which has always attracted me; and, without overestimating myself, I am conscious of possessing a certain creative faculty.

We have learned to express the more delicate nuances of feeling by penetrating more deeply into the mysteries of harmony.

We shouldn't repeat the same for ages on end, but look into the new as well.

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, would please him but little.

My symphonies would have reached Opus 100 if I had but written them down... Sometimes I am so full of music, and so overflowing with melody, that I find it simply impossible to write down anything.

My heart pounds sickeningly and I turn pale... I often feel as if I were dead... I seem to be losing my mind.

I was a God-fearing child, innocent and physically attractive.

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

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

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 in the grave.

Does it not seem as if Mozart's works become fresher and fresher the oftener we hear them?

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

By means of industry and perseverance you will rise higher and higher.

From a pound of iron, that costs little, a thousand watch-springs can be made, whose value becomes prodigious. The pound you have received from the Lord, --use it faithfully.