Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest composers of the Western European music tradition. His work crowned the classical period as well as initiated the romantic era in music.
1: “Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.”
2: “Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.”
3: “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”
4: “Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
5: “Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.”
6: “This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble.”
7: “I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.”
8: “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.”
9: “The true artist is not proud: he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and though he may be admired by others, he is sad not to have reached that point to which his better genius only appears as a distant, guiding sun.”
10: “Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.”
11: “Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.”
12: “Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken.”
13: “I must confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years, I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people, ‘I am deaf.’ If I had any other profession, I might be able to cope with my infirmity; but in my profession, it is a terrible handicap.”
14: “Recommend virtue to your children; it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience.”
15: “Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.”
16: “Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?”
17: “Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.”
18: “O, you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you, and I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.”
19: “Off with you! You’re a happy fellow, for you’ll give happiness and joy to many other people. There is nothing better or greater than that!”
20: “A true artist is expected to be all that is noble-minded, and this is not altogether a mistake; on the other hand, however, in what a mean way are critics allowed to pounce upon us.”