Quotes from Richard Wagner

I believe in God, Mozart and Beethoven, and likewise their disciples and apostles; - I believe in the Holy Spirit and the truth of the one, indivisible Art; - I believe that this Art proceeds from God, and lives within the hearts of all illumined men; - I believe that he who once has bathed in the sublime delights of this high Art, is consecrate to Her for ever, and never can deny Her; - I believe that through Art all men are saved.

Imagination creates reality.

Joy is not in things; it is in us.

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

Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them.

One might say that where Religion becomes artificial, it is reserved for Art to save the spirit of religion.

The oldest, truest, most beautiful organ of music, the origin to which alone our music owes its being, is the human voice.

I know of only one composer who measures up to Beethoven, and that is Bruckner.

Parsifal is on his way to the temple of the Grail Knights and says: "I hardly move, yet far I seem to have come", and the all-knowing Gurnemanz replies: "You see, my son, time turns here into space

Bruckner he is my man!

The French idea of playing an instrument well is to be able to SING well upon it.

But then such a book as this is not meant to amuse.

Alles ist nach seiner Art: an ihr wirst du nichts ändern

Unicamente los hombres fuertes conocen el amor, solamente el amor incluye la belleza, solamente la belleza produce el arte. El amor de los débiles entre sí no puede producir sino la satisfacción de sus apetencias lujuriosas.

Only the Strong know Love; only Love can fathom Beauty; only Beauty can fashion Art.

Der Gesang ist die in höchster Leidenschaft erregte Rede: die Musik ist die Sprache der Leidenschaft.

What was infinitely more valuable to Wagner, and what excited his gratitude to even more superlative utterance, was the confidence which Liszt showed in his genius, and without which, it is no exaggeration to say, Wagner's greatest works would probably have remained unwritten.

Ist der Mensch, der nach dem Gott sich sehnt, nicht vernichtet?

Frisch weht der Wind Der Heimat zu Mein Irisch Kind, Wo weilest du?

Erhebe dich, Genossin meiner Schmach! Der junge Tag darf hier uns nicht mehr sehn. Arise, companion of my shame! Daybreak must not find us here.

Weh! Weh! Süssestes Weib! Du traurigste aller Getreuen! Gegen dich wütet in Waffen die Welt: und ich, dem du einzig vertraut, für den du ihr einzig getrotzt, mit meinem Schutz nicht soll ich dich schirmen, die Kühne verraten im Kampf? Ha, Schande ihm, der das Schwert mir schuf, beschied er mir Schimpf für Sieg! Muss ich denn fallen, nicht fahr' ich nach Walhall: Hella halte mich fest!

Ein politischer Mann ist widerlich, ein politisches Weib aber grauenhaft […].

We turn our eyes away from distance, we raise them in our home again, and there we see a prince whom his people loves, not in the mere sense of old-traditional allegiance to his family, no! of pure love for himself, for his ownest I. We love him because he is what he is, we love his pure virtue, his high sense of honour, his probity, his clemency. So from a full a heart I cry aloud in joy: - That is the man of Providence.

Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond, In mildem Lichte leuchtet der Lenz.