Gounod's Opinions

1901

Music is the most beautiful art, but it is the most detestable profession. But is not that right? That which belongs most to heaven should fare worst on earth.

The public moves much faster than the individual, and therefore the individual must place himself before his age if he desires not to be behind it. Wagner has some idea of this sort. It is a necessity which every true artist must realize. Great men may be said to be for every age save their own. Small men are for their own and none other. — "Reminiscences," in Macmillan's.

Middle Course Best

1901

"It is hard to say which is the best thing for us," remarked the bill collector. "If nobody paid his bills, we should get no commissions, and if everybody paid them we should be thrown out of a job. Our profession offers no exception to the general rule that a middle course is the safest." — Boston Transcript.