Richard Wagner

I have no joy in anything but music, and that is a torment to me.

The world needs me, and I need the world. But the world does not know it, and I know it too well.

My whole life is a struggle against stupidity.

I am not a musician, but a dramatist.

I suffer from a chronic inability to please anyone.

I am a composer of the future, and I am cursed to live in the present.

I have never in my life felt any respect for public opinion.

My enemies are legion, and their stupidity is boundless.

I am born to be misunderstood.

I have always been a revolutionary, even in my art.

My life is a constant series of misunderstandings.

I believe in the German spirit, which is the spirit of freedom.

I am the most German of all Germans.

I have never been able to tolerate mediocrity.

My art is not for the masses, but for the chosen few.

I am a very bad man, but I write very good music.

The greatest misfortune that can befall an artist is to be understood.

I am so full of music that I could burst.

I have never found a human being who understood me completely.

My life is a dream, and my music is the dream of my life.