Beethoven Quotes

I occasionally play works by contemporary composers and for two reasons. First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven. (Jascha Heifetz)
What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven. View quote
Ludwig van Beethoven
There are and always will be thousands of princes, but there is only one Beethoven! View quote
Ludwig van Beethoven
Besides, isn't it confoundedly easy to think you're a great man if you aren't burdened with the slightest idea that Rembrandt, Beethoven, Dante or Napoleon ever lived? View quote
Stefan Zweig
Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. View quote
Ludwig van Beethoven
I suppose I have become a sort of living monument in Portugal. But I come from a family with roots all over the world, so the idea of patriotism is not very strong in me. My country is the country of Chekhov, Beethoven, Velasquez - writers I like, painters and artists I admire. View quote
António Lobo Antunes
Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years. View quote
William F. Buckley
In South America, I heard the 8th Symphony of Beethoven. And the young conductor thought, Beethoven must be heroic. But this is piece which shouldn't be heroic. And this was such a misunderstanding, such a deep misunderstanding. View quote
Kurt Masur
I was born for soccer, just as Beethoven was born for music. View quote
Pelé
In poetry there are two giants, rough Homer and fine Shakespere. In music likewise we have two giants, Beethoven, the thinker, and the superthinker Berlioz. View quote
Modest Mussorgsky
If a professional musician in a symphony orchestra is playing Beethoven. But this particular orchestra have played this particular chestnut so many times, they can play it in their sleep. Does the genius remain present in the music or not? (Robert Fripp)
I see less and less.. .I need to avoid lateral light, which darkens my colors. Nevertheless, I always paint at the times of day most propitious for me, as long as my paint tubes and brushes are not mixed up.. ..I will paint almost blind, as Beethoven composed completely deaf. View quote
Claude Monet
Beethoven tells you what it's like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it's like to be human. Bach tells you what it's like to be the universe. View quote
Douglas Adams
It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf. View quote
H. L. Mencken
Nothing in the next-door world of Dachau impinged on the great winter cycle of Beethoven chamber music played in Munich. No canvases came off museum walls as the butchers strolled reverently past, guide-books in hand. View quote
George Steiner
Just because Beethoven doesn't sound like currently popular art doesn't mean his music is worthless. View quote
John Varley
The Austrians have completed the feat of turning Beethoven into an Austrian, and Hitler into a German. View quote
Billy Wilder
I don't think that either self-deprecation or self-aggrandizement is among the defining qualities of an artist... Beethoven could have been forgiven if his symphonies had gone to his head. Gretchaninoff could also be forgiven if his Dobrinya Nikititch went to his head. But neither one could be forgiven for writing a piece that was amoral, servile, the work of a flunky. View quote
Dmitri Shostakovich
It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure. View quote
Albert Einstein
all this Beethoven and rain. View quote
Michael Ondaatje
Bernard Herrmann used to write all his scores by himself. So did Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky. I don't understand why this happens in the movie industry. (Ennio Morricone)
Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration. View quote
Ernest Newman
Frank Zappa... was Beethoven for insane rock guys. View quote
Scott Ian
When the bright angel dominates, out comes a great work of art, a Michelangelo David or a Beethoven symphony. View quote
Madeleine L'Engle
I grew up on Bach and Beethoven, and now I'm listening to more modern composers who I can't even name. But since I'm constantly doing music, it's difficult to have that quality time to listen to music and do classical stuff. View quote
A. R. Rahman