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The principal mark of genius is not perfection, but originality.

Robert Schumann

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Robert Schumann
Age: 46 †
Born: 1810
Born: June 8
Died: 1856
Died: July 29
Composer
Conductor
Music Critic
Music Pedagogue
Musician
Musicologist
Pianist
Robert Alexander Schumann
Frontiers
Originality
Principal
Perfection
Mark
Genius

More quotes by Robert Schumann

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Can that which has cost the artist days, weeks, months and even years of reflection be understood in a flash by a dilettante?
Robert Schumann
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I was a God-fearing child, innocent and physically attractive.
Robert Schumann
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We shouldn't repeat the same for ages on end, but look into the new as well.
Robert Schumann
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Think it a vile habit to alter works of good composers, to omit parts of them, or to insert new-fashioned ornaments. This is the greatest insult you can offer to Art.
Robert Schumann
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If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. therefore, respect every musician in his proper place.
Robert Schumann
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For me, music is always the language which permits one to converse with the Beyond.
Robert Schumann
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The flame that is naturally clear always gives the most light and heat. If I could blend my talent for poetry and music into one, the light would burn still clearer, and I might go far.
Robert Schumann
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Mendelssohn I consider the first musician of the day I doff my hat to him as my superior. He plays with everything, especially with the grouping of the instruments in the orchestra, but with such ease, delicacy and art, with such mastery throughout.
Robert Schumann
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Send light to the dark hearts of men, that is the duty the artist.
Robert Schumann
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The poet sees better than other mortals. I do not see things as they are, but according to my own subjective impression, and this makes life easier and simpler.
Robert Schumann
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Confidence and courage are special skills to the art ... Within the four walls of his study, the artist should be modest, work diligently and conscientiously. While for the public, he'll show himself audacious, yes even into cheerful boldness. And so a new public's darling has arisen.
Robert Schumann
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My symphonies would have reached Opus 100 if I had but written them down... Sometimes I am so full of music, and so overflowing with melody, that I find it simply impossible to write down anything.
Robert Schumann
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From a pound of iron, that costs little, a thousand watch-springs can be made, whose value becomes prodigious. The pound you have received from the Lord,--use it faithfully.
Robert Schumann
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It was an unforgettable picture to see Chopin sitting at the piano like a clairvoyant, lost in his dreams to see how his vision communicated itself through his playing, and how, at the end of each piece, he had the sad habit of running one finger over the length of the plaintive keyboard, as though to tear himself forcibly away from his dream.
Robert Schumann
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We liked it or I didn't like it people say. As if it were nothing higher than to please the people!
Robert Schumann
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My heart pounds sickeningly and I turn pale... I often feel as if I were dead... I seem to be losing my mind.
Robert Schumann
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In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of.
Robert Schumann
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We have learned to express the more delicate nuances of feeling by penetrating more deeply into the mysteries of harmony.
Robert Schumann
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You will be most readily cured of vanity or presumption by studying the history of music, and by hearing the master pieces which have been produced at different periods.
Robert Schumann
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Without enthusiasm nothing great can be effected in art.
Robert Schumann