Robert Schumann Quotes

If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. therefore, respect every musician in his proper place.

The principal mark of genius is not perfection, but originality.

To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.

Talent works, genius creates.

My indifference to money and my spendthrift ways are disgraceful. You have no idea how reckless I am; how often I practically throw money out of the window. I am always making good resolutions, but the next minute I forget and give the waiter eightpence.

When you play, never mind who listens to you.

For me, music is always the language which permits one to converse with the Beyond.

Nature best teaches how to pray, and how to reverence all the gifts the Almighty has given us. She is like a vast outspread handkerchief, embroidered with God's eternal name, on which we may dry alike our tears of sorrow and of joy; she turns weeping into ecstasy, and fills our hearts with speechless, quiet reverence and resignation.

Remember, there are more people in the world than yourself. Be modest! You have not yet invented nor thought anything which others have not thought or invented before. And should you really have done so, consider it a gift of heaven which you are to share with others.

Play always as if in the presence of a master.

I am so fresh in soul and spirit that life gushes and bubbles around me in a thousand springs.

When you play, do not trouble yourself as to who is listening. Yet always play as though a master listened to you.

In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of.

Art was not created as a way to riches. Strive to become a true artist; all else will take care of itself.

I sometimes lack confidence in public, although I am proud enough inwardly.

"We liked it" or "I didn't like it" people say. As if it were nothing higher than to please the people!

Let your intimate friends be chosen from such as are better informed than yourself.

Endeavour to play easy pieces well and with elegance; that is better than to play difficult pieces badly.

Can that which has cost the artist days, weeks, months and even years of reflection be understood in a flash by a dilettante?

From a pound of iron, that costs little, a thousand watch-springs can be made, whose value becomes prodigious. The pound you have received from the Lord,--use it faithfully.

For me Wagner is impossible... he talks without ever stopping. One can't just talk all the time.

If, while at the piano, you attempt to form little melodies, that is very well; but if they come into your mind of themselves, when you are not practising, you may be still more pleased; for the internal organ of music is then roused in you. The fingers must do what the head desires; not the contrary.

Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm.

Perhaps only a Genius can truly understand Genius.

People compose for many reasons, to become immortal; because the piano happens to be open; because they want to become a millionaire; because of the praise of friends; because they have looked into a pair of beautiful eyes; or for no reason whatsoever.

You write to become immortal, or because the piano happens to be open, or you've looked into a pair of beautiful eyes.

A fiery, good beginner always stands higher than a master in mediocrity.

You will be most readily cured of vanity or presumption by studying the history of music, and by hearing the master pieces which have been produced at different periods.

It is the curse of talent that, although it labors with greater steadiness and perseverance than genius, it does not reach its goal, while genius already on the summit of the ideal, gazes laughingly about.

To compose is to remember music that has never been written.

It was an unforgettable picture to see Chopin sitting at the piano like a clairvoyant, lost in his dreams; to see how his vision communicated itself through his playing, and how, at the end of each piece, he had the sad habit of running one finger over the length of the plaintive keyboard, as though to tear himself forcibly away from his dream.

When young, one learns his craftsmanship, may become a young master, and it is youth that is most auspicious for developing certain skills.

Only when the form grows clear to you, will the spirit become so too.

Send light to the dark hearts of men, that is the duty the artist.

The aesthetic principle is the same in every art, only the material differs.

Think it a vile habit to alter works of good composers, to omit parts of them, or to insert new-fashioned ornaments. This is the greatest insult you can offer to Art.

I feel so entirely in my element with a full orchestra; even if my mortal enemies were marshalled before me, I could lead them, master them, surround them, or repulse them.

Music induces nightingales to sing, pug dogs to yelp.

Music owes as much to Bach as religion to its founder.

The poet sees better than other mortals. I do not see things as they are, but according to my own subjective impression, and this makes life easier and simpler.

Without enthusiasm nothing great can be effected in art.

Believe me, were I ever to accomplish anything, it would be in music, which has always attracted me; and, without overestimating myself, I am conscious of possessing a certain creative faculty.

The flame that is naturally clear always gives the most light and heat. If I could blend my talent for poetry and music into one, the light would burn still clearer, and I might go far.

We may be sure that a genius like Mozart, were he born today, would write concertos like Chopin and not like Mozart.

We have learned to express the more delicate nuances of feeling by penetrating more deeply into the mysteries of harmony.

An evil fate has deprived me of the full use of my right hand, so that I am not able to play my compositions as I feel them. The trouble with my hand is that certain fingers have become so weak, probably through writing and playing too much at one time, that I can hardly use them.

We shouldn't repeat the same for ages on end, but look into the new as well.

Music - so different from painting - is the art which we enjoy most in company with others. A symphony, presented in a room with one other listener, would please him but little.

My symphonies would have reached Opus 100 if I had but written them down... Sometimes I am so full of music, and so overflowing with melody, that I find it simply impossible to write down anything.

Mendelssohn I consider the first musician of the day; I doff my hat to him as my superior. He plays with everything, especially with the grouping of the instruments in the orchestra, but with such ease, delicacy and art, with such mastery throughout.