Ludwig van Beethoven

"My affliction is cruel, but it is my cross."

"Men are not evil, they are only unconscious."

"The ear that hears truth will hear thee also."

"Swift action should always be taken in whatever you do."

"Never lose the hope you have to improve your state in life."

"Ode to Joy - the expression of all things sublime."

"Nature is eternal truth; never does she lie."

"Our happiness or misery is in the power of our own soul."

"There is within us a deep well of creativity, it is up to us to uncork it."

"Do not permit your mind to be imprisoned by dogma."

"He is an artist to whom we grant genius."

"Plant the tree of hope yet again."

"The world judges men by the results they produce."

"The whole secret is not so much in becoming conscious of one's problem as in the constant concentration upon it."

"Life, though, it be only one day and one night, is still life as whole."

"I shall be an autocrat: that is my trade. God will be my judge."

"Music is the one non-negotiable item in my life."

"Write on my gravestone: 'He heard all the symphonies of the spheres.'"

"We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meanwhile within man is the soul of the whole."

"Let your life be your loudest music."

"In the darkest moments, I depend wholly upon the power of the spirit."

"What you do not understand, you do not possess."

"To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday."

"Talent is a flame which shines inward so it warms the soul, then outward so it warms the world."

"Praise not the day until evening has come."

"Continue to compose, because while you do, no evil can manifest itself in you."

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

"The offering of truth has never done harm."

"I want to understand God's thoughts; all else is just a detail."

"To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist."