Robert Schumann

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

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

“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 wit...”

“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 resolutio...”

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

“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...”

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

“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 an...”

“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 facul...”

“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 w...”