Franz Liszt

Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day.

Brahms' Variations are better than mine, but mine were written before his.

Broad paths are open to every endeavour, and a sympathetic recognition is assured to every one who consecrates his art to the divine services of a conviction of a consciousness.

Companions, in misery and worse, that is what we all are, and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.

I conclude that the Wagnerian operas which are already in the repertoire, and other masterworks as well, stand in no further need of my services.

I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment... rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood.

I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.

In Hungary all native music, in its origin, is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance.

Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.

It is impossible to imagine a more complete fusion with nature than that of the Gypsy.

It is my fervent wish and my greatest ambition to leave a work with a few useful instructions for the pianists after me.

Life is only a long and bitter suicide, and faith alone can transform this suicide into a sacrifice.

Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.

Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.