Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“I write as a sow piddles.”

“What's even worse than a flute? Two flutes!”

“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.”

“I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.”

“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”

“To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but that an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop.”

“I am never happier than when I have something to compose.”

“Melody is the essence of music.”

“All I insist on, and nothing else, is that you should show the whole world that you are not afraid. Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.”

“It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I.”

“Our riches, being in our brains, die with us.”

“The passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of disgust; and music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music.”

“Believe me, my sole purpose is to make as much money as possible; for after good health it is the best thing to have.”

“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.”

“The golden mean is in all things.”

“When I am... completely myself, entirely alone... it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly.”

“I choose such notes that love one another.”