Music is natural law as related to the sense of hearing.

It's always the same: mediocrities are over-valued and great men are rejected.

Comprehensibility is the highest law of all. Unity must be there. There must be means of ensuring it. All the things familiar to us from primitive life must also be used in works of art.

Indeed, man only exists insofar as he expresses himself. Music does it in musical ideas.

Your ears will always lead you right, but you must know why.

What is music? Music is language. A human being wants to express ideas in this language, but not ideas that can be translated into concepts.

Art is a product of nature in general, in the particular form of human nature.

Except for the violin pieces and a few of my orchestra pieces, all of my works from the Passacaglia on relate to the death of my mother.

A bad friend secretly plots your downfall

Embrace yourself, in these times, and acknowledge yourself for the extraordinary progress you are making, as a soul, in every waking moment.

Let us try to see things from their better side: You complain about seeing thorny rose bushes; Me, I rejoice and give thanks to the gods That thorns have roses.

Sorrow you can hold, however desolating, if nobody speaks to you. If they speak, you break down.

WikiLeaks is the 9/11 of diplomacy.

There's a complete difference between training for a specific event and goal and just training.

It’s one of the most enjoyable experiences. To me, it’s theater. Immediate reaction, the second it’s done. I get to be in my living room with you, trolling my own show.

All thought is immoral. Its very essence is destruction. If you think of anything, you kill it. Nothing survives being thought of.

Small are the seeds fate does unheeded sow Of slight beginnings to important ends.

Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding place and let it be free and unashamed.