"May God continue to give you the strength to build your temple of Isis, and may the pure fire there devour all your afflictions so that you may awake like a new phoenix."

"Oh you people who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem so to you. From childhood on, my heart …"

"I shall remain a bachelor all my life, as I have found no one who understands me."

"Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend."

"I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose."