"I am a composer, not a politician."

"I always have a new idea, a new melody, a new harmony in my head."

"I never write a work continuously, without interruption."

"I carry my thoughts about with me for a long time, often a very long time, before I write them down."

"Ah how could I possibly admit such an infirmity in the one sense which should have been more perfect in me than in others[?]"