We cling nervously to the melody, but we don't handle it freely, we don't really make anything new out of it, we merely overload it.

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.

One should never forget that by actually perfecting one piece one gains and learns more than by starting or half-finishing a dozen.

The idea comes to me from outside of me - and is like a gift. I then take the idea and make it my own - that is where the skill lies.

Study Bach. There you will find everything.

If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon.

Reviewer: 'One of your themes was very similar to one of Beethoven's!' Brahms replied, 'Of course it is. Everyone steals - the important thing is to do it brilliantly.

It is a real pleasure to see music so bright and spontaneous expressed with corresponding ease and grace.

It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.

If we cannot write with the beauty of Mozart, let us at least try to write with his purity.

The only true immortality lies in one's children.

Without living, how can you know? Without knowing, how can you speak?

Learn, because life is ahead of you. Live, because death is before you. Listen, because wisdom is all around you. Love, because God is inside of you.

Healing comes through God's work, and God deals differently with us when we deal differently with him.

Dying is the last thing I will ever do.

I don't wait for people to give me respect. I always give them respect.

Science is increasingly answering questions that used to be the province of religion.

Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily turning, truth and beauty can't.

Kindness is the cause of all anxiety.

In economics, the majority is always wrong.

See the possibility that people and things can change at any time and don't hold on to judgements.