Gerardo. One must do what one is capable of doing and not what one is incapable of doing.
Dühring. Everything has to be learned first.
Gerardo. One must learn that which one is capable of learning. How am I to know if the case is not very much the same with your work as a composer.
Dühring. I am a composer, Mr. Gerardo.
Gerardo. You mean by that, you have devoted your whole strength to the writing of operas.
Dühring. Quite so.
Gerardo. And you hadn't any left to bring about a performance.
Dühring. Quite so.
Gerardo. The composers whom I know go about it just the other way. They slap their operas on paper the best way they know and keep their strength for bringing about a performance.
Dühring. They are a type of composer I don't envy.