A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.

There is a world of difference between a Mahler eighth note and a normal eighth note.

I am thrice homeless, as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew throughout the world. Everywhere an intruder, never welcomed.

The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause.

The impressions of the spriritual experiences gave my future life its form and content.

When I have reached a summit, I leave it with great reluctance, unless it is to reach for another, higher one.