About Franz Liszt: Franz Liszt was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, teacher and Franciscan tertiary.
Life is only a long and bitter suicide, and faith alone can transform this suicide into a sacrifice.
Supreme serenity still remains the Ideal of great Art. The shapes and transitory forms of life are but stages toward this Ideal, which Christ's religion illuminates with His divine light.
Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.
Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.
Broad paths are open to every endeavour, and a sympathetic recognition is assured to every one who consecrates his art to the divine services of a conviction of a consciousness.
Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day.
Companions, in misery and worse, that is what we all are, and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.
Truth is a great flirt.
Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny.
The public is always good.
I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment... rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood.
We need improvement in the style of performance. There is no more advantage in a musician who plays and conducts than in one who is only a beater of rhythm.
The principal task of a conductor is not to put himself in evidence but to disappear behind his functions as much as possible. We are pilots, not servants.
Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.
I foster a sorrowful conception of affection. Make no sacrifices.
I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.
I conclude that the Wagnerian operas which are already in the repertoire, and other masterworks as well, stand in no further need of my services.
Brahms' Variations are better than mine, but mine were written before his.
As the mother teaches her children how to express themselves in their language, so one Gypsy musician teaches the other. They have never shown any need for notation.
A theatre receives recognition through its initiative, which is indispensable for first-rate performances.
