During a rehearsal of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony the members of the orchestra were so overwhelmingly moved by the conducting of Arturo Toscanini that they rose as one man and applauded him. When the spontaneous cheering had subsided Toscanini turned to his men, tears glistening in his eyes. “Please…please! Don’t do this!” he said in a pathetic voice. “You see, gentlemen, it isn’t me you should applaud. It’s Beethoven!”
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When Napoleon Bonaparte was sentenced to exile on the island of Saint Helena, an English newspaper reported that this military genius would sooner kill himself than be exiled. Napoleon heard the report and said, “I believe suicide is the most abominable of all crimes, and I cannot find any reason for its justification. It’d be a coward’s crime.
How can a man call himself brave if he cannot bear life’s vicissitudes? True heroism consists in facing adverse fortune, however great it might be, and being able to meet that challenge.”
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Metternich, the great Austrian statesman, had a leisurely, confident approach to solving problems. Once he had just returned from a wearisome night journey when he was met by a courier with an important dispatch.
The courier asked what the answer was to be. Metternich replied, “I really do not know yet. Let me finish the novel in my travel bag. Perhaps the answer will come.”
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