"The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between."

"Sleep is good, and death is better; but of course, to live is the best of all."

"I beg you most humbly to go on loving me just a little and to make do with these poor congratulations until I get some new drawers made for my small and narrow brainbox in which I can keep the brains …"

"I have always composed with the greatest ease."

"I have often wished that I could be a bird, so that I might fly away from all my troubles."