You will hear nothing of me here ... Fidelio? They cannot give it, nor do they want to listen to it. The symphonies? They have no time for them. My concertos? Everyone grinds out only the stuff he himself has made. The solo pieces? They went out of fashion long ago, and here fashion is everything. At the most, Schuppanzigh occasionally digs up a quartet.

Style has gone out of fashion.

Don’t ever wear artistic jewellry; it wrecks a woman’s reputation.

Toes are scarce among veteran blubber-room men.

The word "modern" no longer has an automatic prestige except among fools.

Those gobblers [the French]?- I detest them.

You know you haven't got a singing face.

It's out of fashion in these decaying times to be a scholar.

It’s out of fashion in these decaying times to be a scholar.

[Frenchmen] are not the sort of people one would go tiger-shooting with.

Only those few people who practice it believe in goodness.

Well, I'm not going to be singing about lollipops because I no longer relate to lollipops.

I loathe the French. There's not one French person I can think of except—maybe two very simple people. Maybe Boudin, who's so un-French. You know, they're really not very nice. They're all for themselves.

Toto, I don't think we're talking white-socks-and-sandals any more.