(November 23, 1809, to George Thomson, of Edinburgh, for whom Beethoven
arranged the Scotch songs.)
211. “My motto is always: nulla die sine linea; and if I permit the muse to go to sleep it is only that she may awake strengthened.”
(October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.)
212. “There is no treatise likely to be too learned for me. Without laying claim to real learning it is yet true that since my childhood I have striven to learn the minds of the best and wisest of every period of time. It is a disgrace for every artist who does not try to do as much.”
(November 2, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig.)
213. “Without wishing in the least to set myself up as an exemplar I assure you that I lived in a small and insignificant place, and made out of myself nearly all that I was there and am here;—this to your comfort in case you feel the need of making progress in art.”
(Baden, July 6, 1804, to Herr Wiedebein, of Brunswick, who had asked
if it was advisable for a music teacher and student to make his home in
Vienna.)
214. “There is much on earth to be done,—do it soon! I must not continue my present everyday life,—art asks this sacrifice also. Take rest in diversion in order to work more energetically.”
(Diary, 1814.)
215. “The daily grind exhausts me.”