I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use—silence, exile, and cunning.

I want my music to be a friend to those who need it.

I don’t do things for the response or the controversy. I just live my life.

"Schreiben ist eine Art zu leben."

The beauty of the universe lies in its complexity and the simplicity of the laws that govern it.