Richard Wagner

“Though German art can never be Bavarian, but simply German, yet Munich is the capital of this German Art; here, under shelter of a Prince who kindles my enthusiasm, to feel myself a native and member of the people was, to me, the homeless wanderer, a deep, a genuine need.”

“The measures and acts which show us violently disposed towards the outer world can never stay without a violent reaction on ourselves.”

“I have only a mind to live, to enjoy - i.e., to work as an artist, and produce my works; but not for the muddy brains of the common herd.”

“Wherever the fish are, that's where we go.”

“Even if I know I shall never change the masses, never transform anything permanent, all I ask is that the good things also have their place, their refuge.”

“הגירושים מהווים את אחד הגדולים שבאסונות הכלכליים; לבזבז כספים כדי לכעוס ולהתנקם.”

“אני שונא את הנטייה ההולכת וגוברת לאסור אנשים בכבלים למכונות בבתי חרושת גדולים ולשלול מהם את ההנאה מיצירתם; תוכנית זו תוביל לעבודה זולה ולמוצרים זולים.”

“תמיד האמנתי כי גורלו של האידאל המוזיקלי כרוך בזה של גרמניה; רק גרמניה שאנו אוהבים וחפצים בה מסוגלת להגיע לאידאל זה.”

“אני משוכנע כי קיימים זרמים אוניברסליים של מחשבה אלוהית המהדהדים באוויר בכל מקום, והמעניקים השראה לכל מי שחש בהם.”

“אם כי אני יודע שלא אוכל לשנות את המציאות ואת גישתו של ההמון, אני חפץ לתת מקום מקלט לדברים היפים.”

“הדמיון יוצר את המציאות.”

“I wish I could score everything for horns.”

“Divorce is one of the most financially traumatic things you can go through. Money spent on getting mad or getting even is money wasted.”

“I am convinced that there are universal currents of Divine Thought vibrating the ether everywhere and that any who can feel these vibrations is inspired.”

“I write music with an exclamation point!”

“Many's the man/ who thought himself wise/ but what he needed/ he did not know...”

“I can't distract myself enough here, for sketches to a new opera are constantly buzzing around in my head, to the extent that I need all my strength to wrest myself from them.”

“Everything lives and lasts by the inner necessity of its being, by its own nature's need.”

“In no State is there a weightier law than that which centers its stability in the supreme hereditary power of one particular family, unconnected and un-commingling with any other lineage in that State.”

“Imagination creates reality.”