I had never doubted my own abilities, but I was quite prepared to believe that 'the world' would decline to recognize them.

A symphony is a stage play with the parts written for instruments instead of for actors.

(Art)... rescues us from our self chosen triviality, to which we are so prone. It is like a deep organ note that makes my hair stir and a shiver run through me…

The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to change it.