"Mussorgsky, in his vocal efforts, appears wilfully eccentric. His style impresses the Western ear as barbarously ugly."

"My music must be an artistic reproduction of human speech in all its finest shades. That is, the sounds of human spee…"

"In poetry there are two giants, rough Homer and fine Shakespere. In music likewise we have two giants, Beethoven, the…"

"I have no use whatever for Mussorgsky. His views may tally with mine, but I have never heard him express an intellige…"

"Yes, Mussorgsky is little short of an idiot."

"Mussorgsky you very rightly call a hopeless case. In talent he is perhaps superior to all the [other members of The F…"

"Women are not a hobby—they're a calamity."

"Please include me on the list of foreign agents of my dear country, as I agree with my husband, an honest, decent and…"

"About one p.m. I went into Father's room. His breathing was very rapid. He was having camphor injections and oxygen. …"

"I have never seen anyone who felt music so strongly and deeply as my father. It upset him, moved him, excited him, ma…"