"It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to. You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you."
"Bach is like an astronomer who, with the help of ciphers, finds the most wonderful stars....Beethoven embraced the universe with the power of his spirit...I do not climb so high. A long time ago I decided that my universe will be the soul and heart of man."
"Nothing is more beautiful than a guitar, except, possibly, two."
"One needs only to study a certain positioning of the hand in relation to the keys to obtain with ease the most beautiful sounds, to know how to play long notes and short notes and to [attain] certain unlimited dexterity... A well formed technique, it seems to me, [is one] that can control and vary a beautiful sound quality."
"Nothing is more odious than music without hidden meaning."
"I wasn't meant to play in public... crowds intimidate me, their breath stifles me, their stares petrify me, their strange faces throw me into confusion."
"How distatesful this George Sand is! Is she really a woman? I'm inclined to doubt it"
- on his first hearing George Sand, 1836
"The first said I was going to die; the second said I had breathed my last; and the third said I was already dead."
