A Bachelor, In My Opinion, Is Only

When I Am At Peace With Myself . . . Then Thoughts Flow Into Me Most Easily And At Their Best. Where They Come From And How - That I Cannot Say . . . I'd Be Willing To Work Forever And Forever If I Were Permitted To Write Only Such Music As I Want To Write And Can Write - Which I Myself Think Good.

The Most Necessary, Most Difficult And Principal Thing In Music, That Is Time.

I Am Not Thoughtless But Am Prepared For Anything And As A Result Can Wait Patiently For Whatever The Future Holds In Store, And I'll Be Able To Endure It.

My Great Grandfather Used To Say To His Wife, My Great-grandmother, Who In Turn Told Her Daughter, My Grandmother, Who Repeated It To Her Daughter, My Mother, Who Used To Remind Her Daughter, My Own Sister, That To Talk Well And Eloquently Was A Very Great Art, But That An Equally Great One Was To Know The Right Moment To Stop.

You Know That I Become Quite Powerless Whenever I Am Obliged To Write For An Instrument Which I Cannot Bear.