“He gives me the impression of being a spoilt child.(on Liszt)”

“I do not want horses or diamonds - I am happy in possessing you.”

“My health may be better preserved if I exert myself less, but in the end doesn't each person give his life for his calling?”

“Why hurry over beautiful things? Why not linger and enjoy them?”

“How much one has to do to leave town with a few dollars! ...I arrive home, dead tired, at 11 or 12 o'clock [at night], gulp a mouthful of water, lie down and think, Is an artist much more than a be...”

“I’ve been playing the songs by Liszt, with which you so surprised me, with great enthusiasm, especially Gretchen, Erlkönig, and Sei mir gegrüßt. Is Liszt coming to Vienna in the summer? Thalberg as...”

“To create art with all the passion in one's soul is to live art with all the beauty in one's heart.”

“art is risk made visible”

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

“I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of the Imagination.”

“Nature: it might be the magical key to unlock a locked imagination.”

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”

“I see your picture and in that picture I didn't see you.”

“A picture can tell a thousand words,but a few words can change its story.”

“Only the poet can look beyond the detail and see the whole picture.”