Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold. — Ludwig van Beethoven. German composer (1770–1827)
I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose.
We mortals with immortal minds are only born for sufferings and joys, and one could almost say that the most excellent receive joy through sufferings.
Music, verily, is the mediator between intellectual and sensuous life... the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.