Franz Liszt quotes

Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day. (Franz Liszt)
Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny.
Franz Liszt
Brahms' Variations are better than mine, but mine were written before his.
Franz Liszt
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.
Franz Liszt
Life is only a long and bitter suicide, and faith alone can transform this suicide into a sacrifice.
Franz Liszt
It is impossible to imagine a more complete fusion with nature than that of the Gypsy.
Franz Liszt
I carry a deep sadness of the heart which must now and then break out in sound.
Franz Liszt
Truth is a great flirt.
Franz Liszt
A person of any mental quality has ideas of his own. This is common sense.
Franz Liszt
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.
Franz Liszt
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. (Franz Liszt)
Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.
Franz Liszt
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.
Franz Liszt
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.
Franz Liszt
It is my fervent wish and my greatest ambition to leave a work with a few useful instructions for the pianists after me.
Franz Liszt
A theatre receives recognition through its initiative, which is indispensable for first-rate performances.
Franz Liszt
Music is the heart of life." She speaks love; "without it, there is no possible good and with it everything is beautiful.
Franz Liszt
Real men are sadly lacking in this world, for when they are put to the test they prove worthless.
Franz Liszt
Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.
Franz Liszt
The day will come when all nations amidst which the Jews are dwelling will have to raise the question of their wholesale expulsion, a question which will be one of life or death, good health or chronic disease, peaceful existence or perpetual social fever.
Franz Liszt
I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill. (Franz Liszt)
The character of instrumental music... lets the emotions radiate and shine in their own character without presuming to display them as real or imaginary representations.
Franz Liszt
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.
Franz Liszt
Companions, in misery and worse, that is what we all are, and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.
Franz Liszt
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.
Franz Liszt