Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind

The fact that most people do not understand and respect the very best things, such as Mozart's concertos, is what permits men like us to become famous.

Those who enjoy their own emotionally bad health and who habitually fill their own minds with the rank poisons of suspicion, jealousy and hatred, as a rule take umbrage at those who refuse to do likewise, and they find a perverted relief in trying to denigrate them.

I sometimes ponder on variation form and it seems to me it ought to be more restrained, purer.

A symphony is no joke.