Giuseppe Verdi

"One can't always write a good opera, even with a wonderful libretto. Still, it is the librettist who must take the first step."

"People may say I'm not an easy man to work with, but I am a fair man."

"Success is impossible for the lazy."

"Everything possible has already been composed."

"God gave us voices to use them."

"When the idea is there, the form follows."

"I have no friends and no enemies, only rivals."

"Write music, always music, nothing but music."

"Trample on kings is the art of music."

"I have always tried to write good opera, nothing more."

"It is necessary to compose music that people understand and like."

"The demagogy of revolution is followed by the terrible reality of revolution."

"Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy."

"Never say never, for if you live long enough, chances are you will not say anything anymore."

"Copy a master, and you will produce a work of art."

"Life is full of surprises and seizing opportunities is what counts."

"Art must be life, and life must be art."

"I write as I feel."

"To have faith is to accept with quiet confidence the mystery of existence."

"A man can endure anything if he has faith."

"I believe in the free will of man."

"Let the music speak for itself."

"Every man should have something he believes in strongly enough to die for."

"Music is the universal language of mankind."

"Without music, the earth would be a mistake."

"The noblest delight of mankind is to cultivate the intellect."

"Anything that compromises your principles is a waste of time."

"A man must be something, not a nobody waiting to be molded."

"I will always love with great passion, great joy, and great pain."

"Tradition is the safeguard of progress."