"My musical memory…until my fiftieth year, was prodigious; but since then, I have been conscious of a growing weakness. I begin to feel an uncertainty; something like a nervous dread often takes possession of me while I am on the stage…one can hardly imagine how painful this sensation may be. I often fear lest memory betray me into forgetfulness…"
"To the Germans I am a Russian, to the Russians a German; to the Christian I am a jew, to the jews a Christians; to the Classicist I am a Wagnerite, to the Wagnerites a reactionary; I am neither fish nor fowl - I am an unfinished man"
"I was a devoted imitator of Liszt, of his manners and movements, his trick of tossing back his hair, his way of holding his hands…of all the peculiar movements of his playing."
