- To some it is Napoleon; to some it is Alexander the Great; to some it is philosophical struggle. To me it is simply Allegro con Brio. [discussing the first movement of Beethoven's third (Eroica) symphony. Other versions of this quote have Toscanini saying, Some say this is Napoleon; some Hitler; some Mussolini. To me it is simply Allegro Con Brio.]
- "If you want to please only the critics, don't play too loud, too soft, too fast and too slow".
- I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. I haven't had time for tobacco since.
- [of German composer Richard Strauss, who accepted the sponsorship of the Nazis while Hitler was in power] To Strauss the composer I take off my hat. To Strauss the man I put it on again.
- After I die, I shall return to earth as a gatekeeper of a bordello and I won't let any of you enter.
- Liberty, in my opinion, is the only orthodoxy within the limits of which art may express itself and flourish freely-liberty that is the best of all things in the life of man, if it is all one with wisdom and virtue.
- I hate you all because you destroy my dreams!
- God tells me how the music should sound, but you stand in the way.
- Can't you read? The score demands 'con amore', and what are you doing? You are playing it like married men!
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