That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.
Books...are like lobster shells, we surround ourselves with 'em, then we grow out of 'em and leave 'em behind, as evidence of our earlier stages of development.
Whatever you do, do it to the purpose; do it thoroughly, not superficially. Go to the bottom of things. Any thing half done, or half known, is in my mind, neither done nor known at all. Nay, worse, for it often misleads.
I don't like composers who think. It gets in the way of their plagiarism.
There are no wise few. Every aristocracy that has ever existed has behaved, in all essential points, exactly like a small mob.
When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.