Gustav Mahler
Visionary symphonist who bridged Romanticism and Modernism
Most quoted
"The important thing is never to let oneself be guided by the opinion of one's contemporaries; to continue steadfastly on one's way without letting oneself be either defeated by failure or diverted by applause."
— from Letter, 1902
"The further I get in my development, the more I see that the ultimate goal of the artist is to achieve *through his art* the picture of the world which is purely his own."
— from Letter to Max Marschalk, 1896
"The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause."
— from Letter to Max Kalbeck, 1902
All quotes by Gustav Mahler (346)
The artist must be a solitary figure, a wanderer, an outcast.
The symphony must be the world. It must embrace everything.
The artist is the one who brings light into the darkness.
The greatest art is that which is born of suffering.
Man is a creature of contradictions.
The world is a dream, and we are the dreamers.
Death is not the end, but a new beginning.
The purpose of life is to find your purpose.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Truth is a pathless land.
The human heart is a universe unto itself.
Every work of art is a confession.
The artist must be a mirror of his time.
My music is a struggle for light against darkness.
The greatest joy is to create.
Music is the highest form of philosophy.
The world is full of wonders, if only we have eyes to see them.
To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.
The human spirit is indomitable.
Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.
Contemporaries of Gustav Mahler
Other Musics born within 50 years of Gustav Mahler (1860–1911).