Frédéric Chopin
Poet of the piano, transformed piano music
Most quoted
"One needs only to study a certain positioning of the hand in relation to the keys to obtain with ease the most beautiful sounds, to know how to play long notes and short notes and to [attain] certain unlimited dexterity... A well formed technique, it seems to me, [is one] that can control and vary a beautiful sound quality."
— from Prose writings
"Paris is whatever you want it to be. You can amuse yourself, be bored, laugh, cry, do whatever you like, and no one will so much as look at you, because thousands of others are doing exactly the same thing, each in his own way."
— from Letter, 1831
"When one does a thing, it appears good, otherwise one would not write it. Only later comes reflection, and one discards or accepts the thing. Time is the best censor, and patience a most excellent teacher."
— from Attributed remark
All quotes by Frédéric Chopin (369)
One must be bold to go forward, and if one is not, then one must pretend to be.
I am more of a mood in the people's hearts than a figure in their catalogues.
Sometimes I can only groan, and suffer, and pour out my despair at the piano!
The piano has always been my greatest friend, my confidant. It knows all my secrets.
They want me to give another concert but I have no desire to do so. You cannot imagine what a torture the three days before a public appearance are to me.
I have found a beautiful Mazurka. I think it's going to be the one that will make me famous.
I am finishing the Scherzo, the Ballade, and the Polonaises. I must write while I am still able.
I am not suited for concert giving. The public frightens me, I feel choked by its breath, paralyzed by its curious glances.
I am a child of the century.
I am desperate. There is no cure for my illness. I must reconcile myself to the long, slow death that awaits me.
I am a revolutionary, I was born that way.
I have composed nothing really beautiful this winter. I live, but I don't create.
I have composed a few studies; in your presence I would play them well.
I close my eyes to hear better.
I have never in my life written anything with such difficulty as this concerto's first Allegro.
I am writing without knowing what will happen under my pen.
I am a poor Pole who clings to memories and to music.
The artist is a being set apart, a kind of monster.
I have composed a great Polonaise which I think is magnificent.
I am not at all in a mood for writing letters; I would rather pour out my heart at the piano.
Contemporaries of Frédéric Chopin
Other Musics born within 50 years of Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849).