Ludwig Van Beethoven Quotes

I would rather write 10,000 notes than a single letter of the alphabet.

Applaud my friends, the comedy is over ...
[on his death bed]

You - my life - my All - farewell.
Oh, go on loving me - never doubt
the faithfullest heart
Of your beloved
L
Ever thine
Ever mine
Ever ours.

Friends applaud, the comedy is over.

What is to reach the heart must come from above; if it does not come from thence, it will be nothing but notes, body without spirit.

Off with you! You're a happy fellow, for you'll give happiness and joy to many other people. There is nothing better or greater than that!

Oh continue to love me -
never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

Anyone who tells a lie has not pure heart, and cannot make good soup.

Recommend virtue to your children, that alone - not wealth - can give happiness. It upholds in adversity and the thought of it and my art prevents me from putting an end to my life.

I only live in my music, and I have scarcely begun one thing when I start on another. As I am now working, I am often engaged on three or four things at the same time.

Figured Bass (Harmony) and Religion are self-contained things, one should not argue these.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

The foundation of friendship demands the greatest likeness of human souls and hearts.

No friend have I. I must live by myself alone; but I know well that God is nearer to me than others in my art, so I will walk fearlessly with Him.

My misfortune is doubly painful to me because it will result in my being misunderstood. For me there can be no recreation in the company of others, no intelligent conversation, no exchange of information with peers; only the most pressing needs can make me venture into society. I am obliged to live like an outcast.

I haven't a single friend; I must live alone. But well I know that God is nearer to me than to the others of my art; I associate with Him without fear, I have always recognized and understood Him, and I have no fear for my music,-it can meet no evil fate. Those who understand it must become free from all the miseries that the others drag with them.

ever thine, ever mine, ever ours

Life would be flat without music. It is the background to all I do. It speaks to the heart in its own special way like nothing else.

Wherever you are, I am there also.

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, 'Thus far and no farther.'

The real artist has no pride. Unfortunately he sees that his art has no limits. He feels obscurely how far he is from the goal.
While he is perhaps being admired by others, he mourns the fact that he has not yet reached the point to which his better genius, like a distant sun, ever beckons to him.

Only the flint of a man's mind can strike fire in music.

All my life I have regarded myself as one of Mozart's greatest admirers, and I will remain one until my last breath.

How glad I am to be able to roam in the wood and thicket, among trees and flowers and rocks ... in the country, every tree seems to speak to me, saying, "Holy! Holy", in the woods, there is enchantment which expresses all things.

Recommend to your children virtues, that alone can make them happy, not gold.

You will not find a treatise that is too learned for me; without laying claim to any genuine learning, I yet accustomed myself from childhood onwards to grasp the spirit of the best and wisest in every age. Shame on the artist who does not consider it his duty to achieve at least so much.

I like your opera - I think I will set it to music

Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.

Only the pure of heart can make a good soup.

Even in poverty I lived like a king for I tell you that nobility is the thing that makes a king

I am resolved to rise superior to every obstacle. With whom need I be afraid of measuring my strength? I will take Fate by the throat. It shall not overcome me. O how beautiful it is to be alive
would that I could live a thousand times!

Everything should be at once surprising and inevitable.

Recommend to your children to be virtuous, only the virtue can bring us happiness, not the money.

Good morning on the 7th of July.
while still in bed my thoughts turn towards you my Immortal Beloved, now and then happy, then sad again, waiting whether Fate might answer us. – I can only live either wholly with you or not at all, yes, I have resolved to stray about far away until I can fly into your arms, and feel at home with you, and send my soul embraced by you into the realm of the Spirits. – Yes, unfortunately it must be. – You will compose yourself, all the more since you know my faithfulness to you, never can another own my heart, never – never. – Oh God why do I have to separate from someone whom I love so much, and yet my life in V[ienna] as it is now is a miserable life. – Your love makes me at once most happy and most unhappy. – At my age, I would now need some conformity regularity in my life – can this exist in our relationship? – Angel, I just learned that the post goes every day – and I must therefore conclude so that you get the l[etter] straightway – be patient, only through quiet contemplation of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together – be calm – love me – today – yesterday. – What yearning with tears for you – you – you – my life – my everything – farewell – oh continue to love me – never misjudge the most faithful heart of your Beloved
L.
Forever thine
forever mine
forever us.

A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation.

But what a humiliation for me when someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone standing next to me heard a shepherd singing and again I heard nothing. Such incidents drove me almost to despair; a little more of that and I would have ended my life - it was only my art that held me back.

I will take fate by the throat; it will never bend me completely to its will.

From the glow of enthusiasm I let the melody escape.

Art demands of us that we shall not stand still.

It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer.

Let your deafness no longer be a secret - even in art.

He who understand my music will remain free from the miseries that the other men are dragging with them .

Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.

Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. Oh how harshly was I flung back by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing.

It is my belief one should not belittle the artist; while, however glorious his fame may seem, his time on Mount Olympus as an honourable guest of Zeus is short. It's a pity, but all too eager will the common folk drag him from this etherial heights to the low and trodden earth.

The Heiligenstadt Testament"

Oh! ye who think or declare me to be hostile, morose, and misanthropical, how unjust you are, and how little you know the secret cause of what appears thus to you! My heart and mind were ever from childhood prone to the most tender feelings of affection, and I was always disposed to accomplish something great. But you must remember that six years ago I was attacked by an incurable malady, aggravated by unskillful physicians, deluded from year to year, too, by the hope of relief, and at length forced to the conviction of a lasting affliction (the cure of which may go on for years, and perhaps after all prove impracticable).

Born with a passionate and excitable temperament, keenly susceptible to the pleasures of society, I was yet obliged early in life to isolate myself, and to pass my existence in solitude. If I at any time resolved to surmount all this, oh! how cruelly was I again repelled by the experience, sadder than ever, of my defective hearing! - and yet I found it impossible to say to others: Speak louder; shout! for I am deaf! Alas! how could I proclaim the deficiency of a sense which ought to have been more perfect with me than with other men, - a sense which I once possessed in the highest perfection, to an extent, indeed, that few of my profession ever enjoyed! Alas, I cannot do this! Forgive me therefore when you see me withdraw from you with whom I would so gladly mingle. My misfortune is doubly severe from

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One must not hold one's self so divine as to be unwilling occasionally to make improvements in one's creations.

Artists who have won fame are often embarrassed by it; thus their first works are often their best.

I must confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years, I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people, 'I am deaf.' If I had any other profession, I might be able to cope with my infirmity; but in my profession, it is a terrible handicap.

I can live only wholly with you or not at all.

Hide your secret even from the closest friend; learn to be silent ...

To sing a wrong note is insignificant, but to sing without passion is unforgivable.

The amount of money one needs is terrifying ...

Richard Wagner commenting on the music of Ludvig Van Beethoven: He was a Titan, wrestling with the Gods.

I love a tree more than a man.

I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied; then, in my head, I being to elaborate the work in its breadth, its narrowness, its height, its depth ... I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle as if it had been cast and only the labour of writing it down remains.

Yet it was impossible for me to say to people, 'Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf.' Ah, how could I possibly admit an infirmity in the one sense which ought to be more perfect in me than others, a sense which I once possessed in the highest perfection, a perfection such as few in my profession enjoy or ever have enjoyed.

The world is a king, and like a king, desires flattery in return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse - it will not submit to the mold of flattery.

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?

Then let us all do what is right, strive with all our might toward the unattainable, develop as fully as we can the gifts God has given us, and never stop learning

I cannot bring myself to write for the flute, as this instrument is too limited and imperfect.

There is no loftier mission than to approach the Divinity nearer than other men, and to disseminate the divine rays among mankind.

Nothing is more intolerable than to have admit to yourself your own errors.

Artists are fiery, they do not weep!

I alter some things, eliminate and try again until I am satisfied. Then begins the mental working out of this material in its breadth, its narrowness, its height and depth.

An artist is someone who has learned to trust in himself.

I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death.

Rossini would have been a great composer if his teacher had spanked him enough on his backside.

What I have in my heart and soul - must find a way out. That's the reason for music.

My heart is full of many things there are moments when I feel that speech is nothing after all.

We mortals with immortal minds are only born for sufferings and joys, and one could almost say that the most excellent receive joy through sufferings.

Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.

Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person can not cook a clean soup.

I joyfully hasten to meet death. If it come before I have had opportunity to develop all my artistic faculties, it will come, my hard fate notwithstanding, too soon, and I should probably wish it later - yet even then I shall be happy, for will it not deliver me from a state of endless suffering?

I carry my thoughts about with me for a long time, often for a very long time, before writing them down.

If I contemplate myself as part of the Universe: what am I?

I shall seize fate by the throat.

Music is mediator between spiritual and sensual life.

Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine.

Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup.

Never forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours.

Men are not only together when they are with each other; even the distant and the dead live with us.

Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.

To play without passion is inexcusable!

Music comes to me more readily than words.

Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est.
(Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over.)
[Said on his deathbed]

In the country It seems as if every tree Said to me 'Holy! Holy!' Who can ever express The ecstasy of the woods! Almighty One, In the woods I am blessed. Happy every one in the woods. Every tree speaks through Thee. O God! What glory in the woodland.

If once he has got the right fingering, plays in good time, with the notes fairly correct, then only pull him up about the rendering; and when he has arrived at that stage, don't let him stop for the sake of small faults, but point them out to him when he has played the piece through ... I have always adopted this plan; it soon forms musicians which, after all, is one of the first aims of art and it gives less trouble both to master and pupil.

O, you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you, and I would have ended my life - it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.

Music is ... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy

Music is the mediator between the life of the senses and the life of the spirit.

I want to seize fate by the throat.

Must it be? It must be.

Handel is the greatest composer that ever lived ... I would uncover my head and kneel down on his tomb.

Music from my fourth year began to be the first of my youthful occupations. Thus early acquainted with the gracious muse who tuned my soul to pure harmonies, I became fond of her, and, as it often seemed to me, she of me.

World, do you know your creator?
Seek him in the heavens
Above the stars must He dwell.

There ought to be an artistic depot where the artist need only hand in his artwork in order to receive what he asks for. As things are, one must be half a business man, and how can one understand - good heavens! - that's what I really call troublesome.

I know of no more sacred duty than to rear and educate a child.

Music is the electric soil in which the spirit thinks, lives and invents. All that's electrical stimulates the mind to flowing surging musical creation. I am electrical by nature.

He that divines the secret of my music is freed from the unhappiness that haunts the whole world of men.