A man like Verdi must write like Verdi.

I have striven for perfection, it has always eluded me, but I surely had an obligation to make one more try.

To copy the truth can be a good thing, but to invent the truth is better, much better.

I adore art...when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.

It is better to invert reality than to copy it.

It may be a good thing to copy reality; but to invent reality is much, much better.

The artist must yield himself to his own inspiraton, and if he has a true talent, no one knows and feels better than he what suits him.

Stupid criticism and still more stupid praise.

The success of our operas rests most of the time in the hands of the conductor. This person is as necessary as a tenor or a prima donna.

Of all composers, past and present, I am the least learned. I mean that in all seriousness, and by learning I do not mean knowledge of music.

Oh blessed a thousand times the peasant who is born, eats and dies without anybody bothering about his affairs.

Oh, God, if I'm anything by a clinical name, I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I think people are plotting to make me happy.

I believe yours is the only wisdom, Demelza.

Mistakes are a great educator when one is honest enough to admit them and willing to learn from them

When we as a society lose the ability to comment on what we see and to have an opinion on what we are exposed to, then we have all lost what makes us unique on this planet.

There is only one way by which you can achieve prosperity. It is to take charge of your mind.

This is no time to act like a gentleman. I am a cad and shall react like one.

I am at the stage of my life everyone dreads - that of filling my days with the past, because there is little future left.

Turning the thermostat down is something that I do pretty reluctantly. I like to be able to walk around in whatever I fancy at home.

The sweeter sound of woman's praise.

What if I don’t like adventure? Then cultivate a taste for it. Take a chance. That’s how you grow.