Giuseppe Verdi

“You may have the universe if I may have Italy.”

“To copy the truth can be a good thing, but to invent the truth is better, much better.”

“I adore art... when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.”

“I am not a learned musician, I am an experienced one.”

“The theater must be full, and the public must be made to cry—to weep with sorrow, to shudder with terror, and to feel a thrill of horror.”

“I want long subjects, passionate subjects, with a great variety of characters. The more difficult they are, the better I like them.”

“Simplicity is the seal of truth.”

“Of all composers, past and present, I am the least learned.”

“It is very sad that I have not been able to find a libretto that is both original and interesting.”

“Poor music, when it is good, is not so bad. But poor painting is a horror.”

“Let's return to the old ways, that will be progress.”