On Criticism
“In all that concerns me as an artist, no one has ever heard me say that I pay the least attention to what has been written about me.”
(To Schott, 1825.)
“I think with Voltaire that mere fly-stings will not hold back a run-away horse.”
(1826.)
“As for these idiots, one can only let them talk. Their prattling will certainly not make anyone immortal, any more than it will raise to immortality any of those whom Apollo has destined for it.”
(1801.)
THE NINE SYMPHONIES