Béla Bartók

“My own idea, which I have been developing for years, is the brotherhood of peoples, brotherhood in spite of all wars and conflicts.”

“The melodic world of my string quartets does not essentially differ from that of folk songs, only the framework is stricter.”

“Folk melodies are the embodiment of an artistic perfection of the highest order; in fact, they are models of the way in which a musical idea can be expressed with utmost perfection in terms of brevity of form and simplicity of means.”

“Our peasant music, naturally, is invariably tonal.”

“Our music... is a spontaneous expression, a musical confession of the soul.”

“Competitions are for horses, not artists.”

“In art there are only fast or slow developments. Essentially it is a matter of evolution, not revolution.”

“To study all this folk music was of decisive importance to me in my work, because it freed me from the tyrannical rule of the major and minor keys.”