Franz Schubert

"I never force myself to be devout except when I feel so inspired, and never compose hymns of prayers unless I feel within me real and true devotion."

"Another equally true saying of Schumann is that, compared with Beethoven, Schubert is as a woman to a man. For it must be confessed that one's attitudes towards him is almost always that of sympathy, attraction, and love, rarely that of embarrassment or fear. Here and there only, as in the Rosamund B minor Entr'acte, or the Finale of the 10th symphony, does he compel his listeners with an irrestistible power; and yet how different is this compulsion from the strong, fierce, merciless coercion, with which Beethoven forces you along, and bows and bends you to his will."

"The distance in form, intention, mood and expression between Schubert's songs for voice and piano and those of, say, Adele is remarkably small."

"[...] was sollten wir auch mit dem Glück anfangen, da Unglück noch der einzige Reiz ist, der uns übrig bleibt."

"Nehmt die Menschen, wie sie sind, nicht wie sie sein sollen."

"zu leichter Sinn birgt meistens ein zu schweres Herz."

"Keiner, der den Schmerz des Andern, und Keiner, der die Freude des Andern versteht. Man glaubt immer zu einander zu gehen und man geht nur neben einander. O Qual für den, der dieß erkennt!"

"Glücklich, der einen wahren Freund findet, glücklicher, der in seinem Weibe eine wahre Freundin findet."