Ludwig van Beethoven Quotes and Pictures

Here's a little Beethoven tribute page, with a selection of powerful Beethoven quotes and pictures. Hopefully this sheds some light on the master's personality and thoughts!

I've divided the page into quotes which Beethoven himself said, and quotes which other people said about Beethoven.

Beethoven Quotes


"Music, verily, is the mediator between intellectual and sensuous life... the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.", in a letter to Goethe


Beethoven quotes


"Tones sound and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes."





On his deafness:
"How great was the humiliation when one who stood beside me heard the distant sound of a shepherd's pipe, and I heard nothing; or heard the shepherd singing, and I heard nothing. Such experiences brought me to the verge of despair;--but little more and I should have put an end to my life. Art, art alone deterred me."


Beethoven quotes and pictures


And one of my favorites, in which Beethoven attacks the aristocratic system of his day:

From these we can see that he was an extremely opinionated and strong-minded man, with a powerful passion for music.

I'm not sure of the authenticity of some of these. To be honest some are probably second-hand and distorted. If anyone can verify them please contact me!

beethoven quotes and pictures

Beethoven Quotes by Others

"I believe in God, Mozart (click for biography), and Beethoven." - Richard Wagner

"Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth Symphony will remain." - Michael Bakunin

"A colossus beyond the grasp of most mortals, with his totally uncompromising power, his unsensual and uningratiating way with music as with people." - Yehudi Menuhin

"If anyone has conducted a Beethoven performance, and then doesn't have to go to an osteopath, then there's something wrong. - Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

And to end on a comic note...

"What can you do with it? It's like a lot of yaks jumping about." - Conductor Thomas Beecham, on Beethoven's 7th Symphony

Read my Beethoven biography, or explore the composer's best music.

Beethoven quotes and pictures
