A Bachelor, In My Opinion,

Music, In Even The Most Terrible Situations, Must Never Offend The Ear But Always Remain A Source Of Pleasure.

God Is Ever Before My Eyes. I Realize His Omnipotence And I Fear His Anger; But I Also Recognize His Compassion, And His Tenderness Towards His Creatures.

People Err Who Think My Art Comes Easily To Me. I Assure You, Dear Friend, Nobody Has Devoted So Much Time And Thought To Compositions As I. There Is Not A Famous Master Whose Music I Have Not Industriously Studied Through Many Times.

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.

I Have Never Written The Music That Was In My Heart To Write; Perhaps I Never Shall With This Brain And These Fingers, But I Know That Hereafter It Will Be Written; When Instead Of These Few Inlets Of The Senses Through Which We Now Secure Impressions From Without, There Shall Be A Flood Of Impressions From All Sides; And Instead Of These Few Tones Of Our Little Octave, There Shall Be An Infinite Scale Of Harmonies - For I Feel It - I Am Sure Of It. This World Of Music, Whose Borders Even Now I Have Scarcely Entered, Is A Reality, Is Immortal.