“I love you sometimes foolishly and at these moments I do not understand that I could not, would not, and should not be so absorbing a thought for you as you are for me...”

“If the empire were to collapse, I should personally feel extremely sad. I absolutely do not believe that the personal rule of Napoleon III has been corrupting and oppressive for France-but quite the contrary, it is demonstrably necessary, conciliatory, progressive, and generally intelligent and democratic in the best sense of the word.”

“Music is the heart of life." She speaks love; "without it, there is no possible good and with it everything is beautiful.”

“For the virtuoso, musical works are in fact nothing but tragic and moving materializations of his emotions; he is called upon to make them speak, weep, sing and sigh, to recreate them in accordance with his own consciousness. In this way he, like the composer, is a creator, for he must have within himself those passions that he wishes to bring so intensely to life.”

“Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny.”

“Brahms' Variations are better than mine, but mine were written before his.”

“It would be very unjust to say that you deserted me, but that I was deserted, and sometimes terribly so, is true.”